Aishiterutte itta yo ne?
by GoldieGodiva
Summary: Keiko is kidnapped & forced into marriage by a demon while a new threat is ready to destroy every Tantei in the world! Builds up toward a wedding you can't afford to miss. Yusuke must choose: save the world, or the one you love. Will Yusuke finally confes
1. File Breached

_.You are cordially invited._

…_To a connubiality._

………………_. .Most joyous at best._

………………………………_. Taking place on the final day of Obon._

……………………… _The same day the three worlds as we know it._

………………_...Will be at rest………_

…………………………………………_Rejoice now, and say goodbye._

…………………_..All of Reikai is going to die._

KoEnma crinkled up the letter Botan had brought to his attention. It was delivered by means of a flaming arrow piercing through the heart of an innocent civilian unexpectedly. Botan had to quickly bring the message to her Master, along with the spirit of the deceased one of course, before any of the authorities was able to take it into their own possession. He couldn't grasp the critical notion of the situation… Somehow _he_ was able to contact the outside world from his _prison_… _He_ had already targeted a definite sacrifice and was ready to go up against Enma Daiou, just like _she _had done centuries ago… This was something that had to be brought to Yuusuke's attention. He would have to be able to fulfill this mission even if he wasn't ready. It was time to test him and see what he has learned… but if he fails, all of the inhabitants of Reikai and Ningenkai are condemned to death.

"Master KoEnma!" the toddler was interrupted from his train of thought by his well-known servant, Jorge Saotome, as he burst through the grand doors.

"Ogre! This isn't the time!" KoEnma scolded while the oni panted out of breath. "It's bad enough _he _has ruptured the seal, I don't need any trivial babble from the likes of—"

"Demo!" The blue creature slammed his palms on the escritoire and pointed back from where he entered. "It's urgent, sir!"

KoEnma was losing his patience. "Why don't you go await Botan's return with the artifacts and—"

"That's just it, she can't come through the way of the Sanza no Kawa!" Jorge shouted almost to the brink.

"WHAT?!" KoEnam's pacifier almost fell out of his mouth.

The oni was somewhat relieved that he finally caught his master's attention. "Spirit guides and souls by the river are being devoured by demon HANDS sprouting from the ground! The blood is staining the river and not only that but I've just learned that the Shitenno guarding the _Mire Sutra _have been poisoned! _She_'s escaped, sir! _Seiiukaru_ has returned!" he began to wheeze for air.

The toddler's binky drooped low as he became pale. "A-alert Botan! What are you standing around for! Close off the river until it has cleared up! HURRY!"

"But the Bon Holidays, sir. The souls were to return to their—"

"BAKA! Do as I say! GO!" KoEnma ordered, throwing the crumpled up paper at his servant's head. "GO!"

"Yes, sir!" Jorge saluted and took off.

KoEnma dropped his head, his hands on his desk were trembling. "Two occurrences in one day… The _wedding _issue is going to have to be postponed until Yuusuke takes care of this new threat. He has seven days… This is not good, not good at all!" He threw the documents in front of him from off his desk, now recollecting in a scattered formation on the floor. "I need break!"

"Master KoEnma, a moment of your time, sir?" someone walked into his chamber.

'What now? Can this get any worse!' KoEnma glanced up at yet another servant, this one being a _red oni_ _female_. "What is it?"

"I have come in contact with my _spy_ regarding the strange activity in _Raiden prefecture_ forming rapidly on the mountain. It's _him… _We have a serious problem…" she informed him.

KoEnma sighed, the stress finally getting to him. "That we do…"

**Disclaimers: In no way, shape, or formby far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator so there. Also, the Japanese lyrics of "Hohemi no Bakudan" were not created by me but by the ones Togashi wanted to make the song of the first series of Yuu Yuu Hakusho, so yeah. You can't sue me now. Unless the currency in your country is dried up noodle bits!**


	2. Case One: HexedHell's Erotic Bond is the...

_"…** why are you the kind of person that waits for the train… You are always waiting for something to happen, you just go with any endeavor. You have no set destination, what ever arises you just go with it…"**_

_Machi no hitogomi Kata ga butsukatte Hitori potchi_

_Hatenai sougen Kaze ga pyupyu to Hitori potchi_

_Dotchi darou? Nakitaku naru basho wa?_

_Futatsu maru o tsukete Choppiri otona sa_

_Mechamecha Kurushii kabe datte Fui ni Naze ka?_

_Buchikowasu Yuuki to power Waite kuru no wa_

_Mechamecha Kibishii hitotachi ga fui ni miseta_

_Yasashisa no sei dattari Suru n darou ne!_

_A-ri-ga-to-u Go-za-i-masu!_

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

**_Case One_---Hexed—Hell's Erotic Bond is the shadow? **

"Dammit Botan, enough with the riddles! Why are you even bothering me with this crap about this world and the others in the middle of the night anyway!" a familiar, raunchy voice spat out into the night. From the tone, you could recognize that the person behind the voice was a "little" irritated.

"Yuusuke! Shh!" a more serene sound tried to coax the teenager as she diverted her eyes to the unconscious girl draped on Yuusuke's back. "You don't want to disturb her while she sleeps, you need to take Keiko home now."

"Why don't you do it, Botan!" Yuusuke fumed not listening to the ferrywoman's words.

Botan sat on her oar as it hovered in mid-air, "Because I have to get the Ankoku no Takara back to Rei-Kai Daihisoukan, well, more or less, Master Koenma would have to get the Ankoku no Takara back to Rei-Kai Daihisoukan." Botan grew a light-hearted expression as the three artifacts—Kouma no Ken, Gaki Dama, and Ankoku Kyou—floated beside her. "Besides, Keiko's YOUR girlfriend."

Yuusuke's eyebrow began to twitch, "Then why don't you leave!" he restrained himself from smashing his spirit guide's head in.

"Simple enough, _this _case may be closed, but a newer one has surfaced and has come to the attention of the Council of Rei-Kai." Botan's jubilant aura grew dense as she became slightly serious. "You're assigned to something a little more drastic I'm afraid."

Throughout the entire city, birds flocked, automobile security sensors went off, and the ground rumbled as Yuusuke shouted: "NANI? What the Hell!"

"Yuusuke, calm down!" Botan tried to whisper as she almost fell off her oar.

"I'm not a machine, I wan'na rest once in a while!" Yuusuke glared off at the full moon from the corner of his eye; the moon was mostly covered by black clouds. There were no stars tonight.

"Exactly," Botan regained her balance. "Which is why I suggest you get the both of you home as soon as possible. You don't really look too good after your encounter with Hiei a few minutes ago." She nodded.

It had only been several minutes ago but Yuusuke seemed to have not yet regained most of his stamina. He was pretty battered and had an assortment of scratches all over his face. After the confrontation, Kurama said that he would take Hiei back to Rei-Kai as well to be accounted for what they had done. Yuusuke was getting a little groggy and really didn't feel like fighting anyone else for the rest of the night.

"After a good night's sleep you'll be in a much better mood I'm sure. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about your next case." Botan smiled about to take off.

"So you just leave me with a riddle unfinished… Why not tell me now…" Yuusuke spoke with a sedated demeanor.

"Uh, actually… The thing is…" Botan trailed off as she looked back at Yuusuke. She began twiddling her index fingers together.

"…" Yuusuke grew puzzled.

"I want to tell you the information tomorrow because I don't know anything about this new threat." Botan began to giggle hysterically as sweat broke out over Yuusuke's face.

"Ha Ha! Dammit Botan!" Yuusuke was about to bash her on the head.

"But I can finish telling you about what I started to say earlier." The spirit guide blurted out. Yuusuke restrained himself as Botan began to finish her statement from before. "Master Koenma says that this information is very vital to you so I suggest you listen with open ears." Botan reached into the fold of her kimono and pulled out _The Book of Enma_. She began flipping through pages.

"Not that damn rule book again." Yuusuke huffed.

"Aha, here it is." Botan leaned her left hand on her oar as her right hand held up the book. "It says here: _any one person to defile the order of where that said person belongs when they cross over will suffer in punishment. Not of physical torture, but that of emotional torture. When said person's soul becomes tainted with the desire for blood lust and a passion for the deflowering of others, which in turn morphs the victims into said person's followers, that said person becomes possessed with the divine powers of Death cup. The tainted soul will then be exiled to the forbidden central area of all four realms._"

Botan closed the book and turned to Yuusuke, "That's all there is."

Yuusuke had his left hand supporting Keiko on his back while the other was too busy picking his ear. "Mmhm, so…" Evidently, Yuusuke had stopped listening before Botan began reading from the book.

"Yuusuke." Botan sighed a little wearied.

"If you don't mind, I think I better get Keiko home now." Yuusuke began to walk off.

Botan floated to the front of Yuusuke, the Ankoku no Takara levitating behind her. "The central area is what connects Nin-gen-kai, Ma-kai, Rei-Kai, and Mei-kai together. It is known as '_The Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory_'."

"That's a cozy name, why not just call it 'The Swamp of Happiness Dreams of Death'." Yuusuke ridiculed without a care.

Botan brushed off what Yuusuke said and continued, "Only one being in the entire existence of all four realms was exiled there. A disciple of Satan in its time, it spurred against the thought of being controlled and ordered by someone of higher standards. Its demon class was that of Class B negative and grew followers by means of seduction and intimate arousal. But its followers were just a source of this disciple to grow stronger. Four hundred years ago, the tainted one took on Rei-Kai, and almost won."

Yuusuke grew a little interested.

"But because the Death cup, or a destroying angel, was influenced by Lord Enma, Death cup did a self-sacrificial act that exiled both of them into the Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory. Now, those that become tainted will not be able to possess Death cup's omnipotent auras to start such a threat again." Botan started to hover higher into the air, ready to leave.

"Why does everything got'ta end terrible for the good guys, huh! Chotto matte!" Yuusuke questioned.

Botan hovered back down towards him, "It's a price, I suppose, that needs to be paid in order to keep the balance at hand… It's time I took my leave, watch out Yuusuke, there are a lot of thugs out at night." Botan admonished.

"Yeah.. Thugs, whatever." Yuusuke groaned. "Ja ne, Botan."

"Ja matte ne, Yuu-kun." Botan said a little happier. Then with that, the ferry girl took off through the sky atop her oar, the three artifacts trailing behind her. All disappeared, back to Rei-Kai.

Yuusuke watched as his spirit guide had vanished from his view. He took his attention from the sky, and to the ground. Yuusuke stared long and hard at the stone floor. 'Wait a minute…' Yuusuke began to think, 'Botan said only ONE being was exiled to this swamp area… And that was the bad guy. Then what happened to the good guy…' Yuusuke diverted his attention from the ground and was now looking at Keiko on his back, her head resting on his shoulder. Yuusuke smiled.

He began to walk away from the isolated warehouse. 'Ah, screw Botan, she probably got her information wrong.' Yuusuke thought; his footsteps clicking off the pavement being the only sound heard through the night air.

Actually, Yuusuke's footsteps were certainly not the only thing heard through the night air. A 'clank' and a 'clink' sound were penetrating through the night breeze, and very much so, caught Yuusuke's attention. The Rei-Kai Tan-tei picked up his head and arched it a little behind him so he could see what was making that noise. The noise had stopped. Nothing was there now, nothing but the darkened warehouse, lighted by the faint yellow moon.

Yuusuke continued to walk but then, the clinking and the clanking sound began again. Yuusuke now turned his whole body around and began eyeing the entire area. The noise had stopped again. Yuusuke, this time, was walking backwards! So if the sound started up again, he would surely catch it.

The sound did start up again, but this time, it was fiercer and sharper. As if someone was banging on whatever made this sound. The banging got louder.

"Who the fuck is doing that!" Yuusuke shouted, his voice was heard over the entire racket. The banging stopped.

Yuusuke looked around again, this time, something did catch his attention. On the ground in front of the warehouse entrance, there was a shadow!

Yuusuke looked up from the shadow and now had his attention on the roof of warehouse No. 1. It was too dark to see, but there was a figure there. In the dark…

Yuusuke backed up, he was really aggravated now. Could this be the new case he was suppose to take on?

The figure in the dark watched Yuusuke, not moving at all. Then, the figure did something that probably would've made other nin-gens run scared. Its eyes began to glow. Not red, nor orange, but yellow. Not just the irises but the sclera too. The whole eye was emitting a yellow beam that lit part of the intruder's face. Yuusuke could only make out the intruder's nose and mouth. The intruder's nose seemed to be sniffing the air as their lips were pressed tightly together.

Yuusuke gasped as a bead of cold sweat rolled down the side of his cheek. His expression grew even more angered. "Show yourself, temee!"

Suddenly, as if on cue with what Yuusuke had said, the black clouds that had been covering the moon, began to float away from it. The moon's yellow beam shone down on the entire area. The light from the moon slowly panned up from the ground and then on the walls and finally onto the roof of the warehouse. Its light cast away the darkness that was around the figure. The intruder was revealed.

But before Yuusuke could get a good look at whoever it was that was spying on him, the figure jumped away from the moon's light. Yuusuke looked everywhere, just until he noticed, the figure standing in warehouse No. 1's entrance, just a few feet away from Yuusuke and the girl sleeping on his back.

Yuusuke's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets as he gasped. Sweat broke out all over his face for what he saw.

The figure was a 'she'. She seemed to be Yuusuke's height but maybe a little shorter. Her albino hair, which was only shoulder length, flew out behind her as if the wind were dancing with it. The intruder's skin was pale and her face a little curved. Those eyes of hers were still glowing as something else glowed in synchronous with them upon her neck!

But none of those were the things that caught Yuusuke's attention. Oh no, no, no. The fact that her eyes were glowing didn't help Yuusuke divert his attention from what he was looking at. She was completely, in the nude!

Yuusuke wanted to turn his prying eyes away, but he just couldn't bring himself to doing so. You wouldn't necessarily say the curves on her body were in the right places—she was very average, not having the "super model" physique—but she did have curves none the less. She couldn't possibly be fourteen; even if she were wearing clothing—loose clothing—she would look most like a boy to the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei if she cut her hair. The petite lumps on her chest, possibly not even worthy of being called breasts, were perked up and Yuusuke could feel a nose bleed coming on regardless. How could she face him, better yet, if she was a youkai he had to attack, how could HE face her. At any chance he got he would possibly cop a feel at her.

Yuusuke started to think what Keiko would look like if her face were on this _woman_'s body. He tried shaking the thought from his head as he couldn't stop his eyes from looking at this lady's midriff. Besides the fact that Yuusuke acknowledged that the youkai onna managed to have thighs on her porkchopish hips, he just stared at her abdomen and possibly other places of her lower region too. His attention was fixated on her navel. Unlike most people, hers wasn't popped in, but popped out. She had an 'outie' belly button!

Yuusuke gulped as he kept looking at her navel. 'Why the hell am I thinking that's a turn on!'

The women's eyes stopped glowing, but her irises remained a dusty, golden color. Her sclera, however, seemed bloodshot. If she was a youkai, which was undoubtedly, why wasn't she attacking or bragging about herself like other youkai he fought did...?

The woman finally made a move, she stepped forward and thrusted her arms outward. A gust of long, thin needles blazing a pale blue shot from out of nowhere and swirled towards the Rei-Kai Tan-tei.

Yuusuke dodged, but not as good as he usually would because of the extra weight on his back. Another needle shot towards him, this time penetrating through the sleeve of his green blazer. It was only a centimeter from touching his shoulder as it shot out from the side of it.

'Kuso!' Yuusuke glared at the youkai. He grew uneasy when he heard Keiko mumbling from her sleep. 'I can't fight with Keiko present.' Yuusuke looked back at her. 'I got'ta get her to safety first!' He didn't like the idea of running away from an opponent, but it was worth it, for Keiko's life. Yuusuke turned around, ready to take off, but he came face to face with something unexpected.

The woman who was supposed to be in the warehouse doorway, had shifted herself in front of Yuusuke as he tried to retreat. They were only inches away from each other now. Yuusuke gritted his teeth, now how was he gon'na get out of this one!

The youkai woman stepped forward, closing in any space between them. That nosebleed was coming back to Yuusuke when he noticed her chest pressed up against his. He got a little flustered when he realized the two tight peaks of her breasts were also felt through his green blazer. He was about to break down but this youkai didn't have a sign of concern on her face. She stood looking at him, showing no emotions whatsoever. How the hell was Yuusuke gon'na get out of this one?

Instantly, Yuusuke DID get an idea, but possibly not the best of them. As his right hand held up his friend on his back, he rammed his left hand towards the youkai. The entire area stood with an eerie silence, as if dead.

Yuusuke smirked. He had his left hand groped over the youkai woman. The youkai finally showed a sign of concern when her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows arched up. Yuusuke had his left hand caressing and poking at her 'outie' belly button as the youkai stared down at him looking a little peeved.

The youkai's eyes filled with fire as they began to gleam bright yellow again. She lifted up her left hand as a sharp object began to emerge from her palm. It turned out to be half of a dagger that gleamed a bright blue that could've blinded Yuusuke. The youkai was about to stab Yuusuke if he hadn't acted fast.

Yuusuke abruptly headbutted the woman in the forehead. From the impact, Yuusuke felt a little light- headed. As the youkai's upper body arched back from the collision, Yuusuke ran as fast as he could to the entrance of the warehouse No. 1.

'Good thing I distracted her for a second.' Yuusuke panted as he jumped inside the warehouse. He kneeled down and laid Keiko behind a few crates that were located near the entrance. "Keiko, just stay here for a minute…" Yuusuke murmured into his friend's ear as he stood back up. He leaped out from the entrance, ready to kick this youkai's ass. There was only one problem… The youkai was gone.

"… Kuso…" Yuusuke cursed as he peered around the area. No sign of her anywhere. What? Did he do all that 'strategic' planning for nothing.

All of a sudden, his ears picked up on something. He heard footsteps moving swiftly on top of the roof. Yuusuke looked up only to be brought down to the ground by the youkai that just fell on him.

The youkai woman had Yuusuke pinned to the ground; she held his shoulders down as his arms were grasped to the woman's upper arms. Both their legs were sprawled out.

The youkai's eyes stopped glowing as she moved her right hand over Yuusuke's neck, pushing it upward, she now had Yuusuke's neck cupped forcefully in her hand. She was choking him!

Yuusuke was losing air. How was Yuusuke supposed to fight this threat? She was invulnerable!

Then, Yuusuke saw something emerge from the youkai's right eye. A tear… a tear of blood? Yuusuke watched as the tear trailed down her cheek, he felt her grip on his neck loosen. Just what was going on here?

Yuusuke took advantage of this moment. He slid his leg under the female youkai and lunged his knee upward as it made contact with her abdomen. He had knocked her over on her back, but because both of them were still latched onto each other, she brought Yuusuke on top of her.

"This is a nice position, wouldn't you say…" Yuusuke mocked now pinning her to the ground, her hair in disarray against her face. The youkai didn't try to resist the Rei-Kai tan-tei, she just stared at him without a concern in her eyes as usual. She then closed them.

"Giving up already? Where's the fun in—" Yuusuke cut himself off when he noticed something sting him in his left shoulder. He winced as he turned his head to see what it was. A needle! Yuusuke didn't notice that he left the woman's hands idle, which gave her enough time to stick him with one of those needles from her own Youki.

Yuusuke glanced back at the youkai. Her eyes shot open and began to flicker. The needle in Yuusuke's arm began to flicker in synchronous with her eyes. The pain in his shoulder grew worse. It seemed to be spreading throughout his body. Yuusuke's arms became feeble, he felt his own ki leaving his body.

The youkai, all at once, mashed the needle into Yuusuke's arm further. From the impetus force she exerted onto his arm, he was flung off her body and away from the warehouse. He met the cool ground once again as he noticed he had slid a few yards from warehouse No. 1.

The youkai stood up and began walking towards Yuusuke.

Yuusuke couldn't find the strength to lift his arms, or his head for that matter.

"This is wonderful Yuusuke, you get your ass kicked by a girl in her birthday suit…" Yuusuke mumbled to himself. He finally, against all the pain that was exerted over him, pulled himself upward with his hands. He still could barely keep this position before he fell to the ground again.

The youkai stopped in her tracks and held out her right hand as she clenched it. The needle in Yuusuke's shoulder began to pulse as he was flushed over with excruciating pain. He saw blood rush out of the wound the needle was lodged in. It wasn't long until he was laying in his own blood. Yuusuke then saw fragments escaping out through the needle, could that be his Reiki leaving his body? For some reason, she was able to pull out your own ki from this needle!

Yuusuke couldn't lay here and die without a fight. Through pain, he began to stand up again. The youkai's expression grew a little questioning. Yuusuke placed his right hand in front of him; with his index finger pointing out and his thumb pointing up as the rest of his fingers were curled to his palms. After using his rei-gan already from the fight with Hiei, he was riding on luck that it would work again.

The youkai's eyes widened, as if terrified, for once! She clenched her right fist harder. Yuusuke's left shoulder began to pulse faster as he fought against falling back to the ground. Even more blood gushed from his wound, but unexpectedly, the needle began to slide out. A white aura formed over Yuusuke as the needle dropped out of his arm and hit the ground.

The youkai stepped back in defense at what she saw.

The white aura grew brighter over Yuusuke, his eyes were intense, as he was ready to fire his rei-gan.

The female youkai held out her hands as that dagger of her ki formed within it. Her expression remained that of a frightened one.

Yuusuke growled, "Hell no, temee!" he grasped his right wrist with his left hand, "Kutabre subeta!" Yuusuke cursed as the white aura radiated a pale blue. "REI-GUN!"

The wind circled around the two combatants as the moon's yellow beam lightened up the scene. It was dead silent while the aura around Yuusuke had disappeared.

"Dammit!" Yuusuke gasped. His rei-gan had done nothing! That whole special effect and nothing happens! He shut his eyes and clenched his fists. "What the hell am I supposed to do now!" Yuusuke was all out of options, he would just have to go down fighting… to his death. 'Keiko, I'm sorry.'

Yuusuke was about to charge at the youkai with all the strength he had left until something broke through his mind. He stopped himself and stared at the female youkai in astonishment. She seemed to be saying something, but the words were inaudible? Was she mute? That would explain a lot…

Not only was the youkai woman speaking in mute, she was clutching her head and stepping away from Yuusuke. She flung her head up as her eyes bulged. She was afraid! Afraid of Yuusuke's rei-gan?

Yuusuke wanted to attack her, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to move. Yuusuke's own eyes were widened as he stood in bewilderment too. He could hear what she was saying! Not through his ears, but through his mind?

'… _Nichiren_… Even you… You left me alone too…' the tone of the voice seemed rueful but was a little more apprehensive. The same phrase kept repeating its self over and over through the Rei-Kai tan-tei's mind.

"Get out of my head!" Yuusuke growled as he began to run towards the distracted youkai. He tightened his fists and arched his left arm back, ready to deliver a punch.

Suddenly, a black swirl formed around the outside of youkai female. As it began to stretch towards her, Yuusuke had to stop himself before he touched it, not at all curious at what it was.

The youkai was now standing directly over the shadow as she began to sink in! Further and further, she descended into the abyss, still with her eyes bulging upward. It wasn't long until the black mass had devoured her.

Cold beads of sweat rolled down Yuusuke's nose. He stepped forward, now interested in the shadow. But before he could come any closer, the shadow grew smaller and smaller, until it too, had vanished from sight.

Yuusuke walked over to where the youkai and the black mass used to be. He began to tap the ground. Nothing. Yuusuke peered around the entire area. Nothing still. Was she really gone?

Yuusuke sighed in relief as he flopped on the cold granite floor. 'Attacked twice in one night… What was that all about? Nichiren?' Yuusuke thought as he held his left shoulder. It still did hurt and he wanted to rest a while to regain his endurance before he had to get Keiko home. Unfortunately, for the unaware Yuusuke, Keiko stood, leaning against warehouse No. 1's entrance, looking perplexed and peeved at the same time.


	3. Case One Continuation

The next day, on the roof of Sarayashiki Junior High-

"So Keiko was awake the whole time you were fighting that youkai?" Botan sat on the roof of the staircase. She was still in her pink kimono with her oar sitting across her lap.

"Guess so." Yuusuke sighed as he tried to light a cigarette.

Botan jumped from her current position and slammed her oar against Yuusuke's head as 'lightly' as she could. Yuusuke practically swallowed the cigarette from the collision.

"What the hell was that for!" Yuusuke yelled in Botan's ear.

"Bonehead, I told you getting Keiko home was your main priority!" Botan disputed.

"Nani? And have that youkai follow us along the way?" Yuusuke roared.

"You and Keiko could've been killed." Botan shouted back.

"I don't even know why I came here today! I mean, it's basically the last day of school because of O-bon vacation! If I wanted to get yelled at, I would've stayed at home." Yuusuke grew irritated as he flicked the cigarette out of his hand; not even lighting it. He then walked over to the fencing outlining the roof of the school. He placed his fingers over the metal and clutched it.

"Yuusuke…" Botan walked over to him. "Did Keiko say anything as you took her home."

Yuusuke turned around with his back leaning on the fence, he slid down until his bottom hit the floor. "She wouldn't talk to me," Yuusuke scrunched up his face, "She just kept this face the whole time and never talked to me once!"

"This is no time for jokes, Yuusuke." Botan's eyes grew narrow, Yuusuke finally stopped making 'that' face. A smile quickly emerged on her own face, "Anyway, I found out a little more about your next case."

A single sweat droplet flew down his mandible.

"About that Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory." Botan began to itch her head.

"Nani? That indestructible penitentiary?" Yuusuke thought back to the previous night.

"Hai," Botan leaned on the metal wire fence. "Everything has its flaws I'm afraid."

"Nani!" Yuusuke tried not to shout.

"The Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory has an imperishable rei-seal that is like a shield that outlines the swamp from the gateways to any of the four realms. The Shitenno guards the four gateways, the holy warriors of Rei-Kai that stops anyone from entering the mire sutra. But because it is the start of the Bon holidays, the mire sutra's barriers become weaker. The exiled are then able to escape from the scriptures…"

"What do you mean scriptures?" Yuusuke questioned.

The ferrywoman decided to sit down next to Yuusuke as she fiddled her fingers together. "Ever since the confinement of the disciple I told you about, the youkai that become tainted are then restrained and held for trial among the Council of Rei-Kai. It is then decided if they should be executed or thrown into their supposedly ultimate resting home."

"What about the scriptures." Yuusuke asked again, a little impatient.

"Oh yes," Botan stared at Yuusuke, "Once the tainted are condemned to the mire, their names are written on small, miniature scrolls with their own blood. The scrolls are then pinned to their bodies, as they are then taken to the dimensional rift located at the edge of Rei-Kai by the 'same' omens that appeared sprouting along the Sanza no Kawa yesterday. The omens are enormous rotten, dead claws that have been filling the Sanza no Kawa with the blood of its victims…"

Botan noticed that Yuusuke was about to repeat the same question, so she continued, "Once the condemned emerge from the dimensional rift, the 'omens' throw them into what seems like eternal darkness. Once the tainted hit what they think is the ground, what feels like a dead root then constricts them. Once completely dead, the dead root grows into a tree with the tainted one's body entangled among it. Their scroll, which is considered 'scriptures', from before is then engraved into their foreheads with a sentence written below it."

Yuusuke's eyes shifted, "What is the sentence?"

"Heh…" Botan chuckled as she scooted away from Yuusuke.

The Rei-kai Tantei arched an eyebrow.

"The statement is forbidden, I'm unable to tell you that because it is a chant used to resurrect the disciple. Plus, I wouldn't know it, only Lord Enma and Master Koenma know it because no one else is allowed through the gateway to the mire sutra unless you are condemned there." Botan began to giggle.

"BoooooTAN!" Yuusuke began clenching his fists, "Is there anything you can tell me!" He spat out as his face grew dark.

"Of course!" Botan spoke up in defense; "Those omens that have been appearing by the Sanza no Kawa are actually the dead followers of the disciple of Satan." Yuusuke's expression grew lighter. "Once the tainted disciple had connived the souls, they then morph into the omens, known as Hands of Eden." Yuusuke was about to crack a joke but Botan quickly interrupted, "The Hands of Eden are_ Seiiukaru's _trademark move, when they are around, she's around."

"Seiiukaru?" Yuusuke stood from the pewter floor.

Botan stood with him. "Seiiukaru is the youkai you fought last night from your description… White hair, golden eyes, extremely pale skin, quite the exhibitionist." Yuusuke grew a perverted smile, Botan brushed it off, "The female youkai is known as a plague through both Ma-Kai and Rei-Kai. For this plague finished her victims before any signs of bones were left, this plague had even devoured the victim's blood curdling screams before the body itself, this plague-"

"This plague, is apart of the Ma-Kai Escort Service… wouldn't you say?" Yuusuke ridiculed with a perverted smirk as he cut the ferrywoman off. Botan let her oar fall from her hands and hit Yuusuke in the head 'delicately'.

Yuusuke clutched his head in pain and shouted: "Dammit it Botan!" Obviously, Botan's 'delicate' power wasn't so 'delicate'.

Botan gave a light smile as she continued, "They said that Seiiukaru was said to kill anyone who so happened to get in the way, or better yet, killing anyone whom so happens to not get in the way for that matter!"

"Whose 'they'? It is probably just 'you' since you didn't know much about this youkai onna to begin with." Yuusuke mocked as he covered his head, avoiding Botan's 'home-run' swing.

Botan, instead, twirled her oar between her fingers as she finished her analysis; "Seiiukaru was thought to have died after what had happened four hundred years ago against Death cup. Every Bon week that passed and no sign of her ever emerging again-just those of restless tainted souls from the scriptures causing nothing but small time disasters among Rei-Kai and Ma-Kai-brought a sign of relief throughout both the two realms. But, after seeing Seiiukaru's dead followers' limbs resurfacing, ready to be fed again by their messiah, it just proves that Master Koenma's theories were correct… Death cup had failed."

"Four hundred years ago! Death cup!" Yuusuke's eyes widened as he stared at Botan.

"Seiiukaru is the name of the disciple of Satan, the one and the same youkai you fought last night." Silence had stricken Yuusuke as Botan revealed this information to the Rei-kai Tan-tei.

"What do you mean about that toddler's theories? And what about Death cup! You said only ONE was ever exiled to that swamp but now, you give me crap about all these other youkai being hauled off as well." Yuusuke practically choked out his words.

"Restless tainted souls are able to leave the mire and cause small catastrophes in only Ma-Kai and Rei-Kai because they are just class E youkai, unfortunately, Seiiukaru was said to be one of the highest class of any Kage no Youkai in her time and is able to enter Nin-gen-kai if ever resurrected. Death cup's soul had returned to Master Koenma's office the very same night it was said she was exiled too. Death cup had said that her and Seiiukaru's body remains in the mire sutra forever, while she tends to a long awaited rest within her _Hell's Erotic Bond_… So you see, Death cup's body was left condemned in the mire but you wouldn't actually say she is exiled as well because her soul lives on away from the mire in dormancy. But the biggest question is, what about Seiiukaru's soul, did it return to its own body instead of entering her respected Hell's Erotic Bond? And why did it take so long to do so after all these years?"

Botan noticed Yuusuke walking over to the staircase entrance. "Hell's Erotic Bond?"

Botan sighed in exhaustion, not wanting to explain this information too, "Hell's Erotic Bond is a band that is able to extract souls from apparitions so they become apart of their owner; making the owner more powerful and the apparitions that lost their souls convert into the owners followers. For Seiiukaru, they converted into the Hands of Eden."

"Eh." Yuusuke gasped dumbfounded.

"It was also said to be the tomb of the owner when they pass away. A rumor started a few years ago about the apparition bands; if you wear them, you become possessed with unlimited power, which is why the Shitenno are to guard the four gates, so no one could see if the rumor was true. Unfortunately, the Council of Rei-Kai doesn't know if it really is a rumor."

Yuusuke was about to crack a joke again, so Botan continued.

"There were _three _bands ever made because there was a secret to its creation that only one person knew about, and that was the creator itself. One of the bands-Seiiukaru's-WAS sealed within the mire sutra, another-Death cup's-Is located within the Rei-Kai Dai-hi-sou-kan, the other, and last, one's location… is unknown. The creator must also have possession of the other Hell's Erotic Bond, but because that one is lost, the creator is lost as well. The creator was Seiiukaru's betrayer and Death cup's savior… Nichiren."

"Nichiren!" Yuusuke turned around. His feet began to wobble as he then sat back on the floor, his head resting on the door to the stairway. 'Nichiren is the one that youkai onna talked, well, thought about from last night?' Yuusuke looked over to Botan. "What do you mean that this youkai onna was betrayed by Nichiren?"

Botan's face grew puzzled, not knowing why Yuusuke would want to know this useless information, "Well, Nichiren-"

Botan was cut off when the back of Yuusuke's head made contact with the door to the school roof. Someone had slammed the door wide open, knocking Yuusuke down with a gigantic bump throbbing on his head. Botan hopped on her oar and ascended into the air, vanishing from sight.

"Yuusuke! Here you are again, hiding out up here. You could at least have the decency to go to lunch if you are gon'na skip most of your classes." Yukimura Keiko blasted at him as she clenched her fist.

Yuusuke sat up from the floor, still holding his head. "Geez, onna! Criminy!"

"Onna! Yuusuke, why did you come to school on the last day before O-Bon if you were just going to skip! I have to prepare for the festival in two days for the school; I can't keep monitoring you!" Keiko crossed her arms, concealing her chest as she droned on, "You never go to class because you rather come up her and light up smokes! It is bad enough you are such an ecchi!"

Keiko struck a nerve. Yuusuke stood up and began shouting in Keiko's ear, "Hold on there, I'm no ecchi just because I skip classes, stop hounding me!"

Keiko glared at Yuusuke, her cold stare gave him the shivers the way she looked at him. "Not an ecchi!" Yuusuke stepped back, "You flip skirts and you say you aren't an ecchi." Keiko closed in the space as she stepped closer to Yuusuke, her voice getting louder. "Better yet, you find some _SALES WOMAN _to fondle in a warehouse last night, not even caring who sees you, but think again! I saw!"

Yuusuke nearly jumped out of his skin. Was this why Keiko had been giving him that cold stare all last night as they walked home. She thought he would actually do THAT! These accusations were really a hassle. "Whoawhoawhoawhoa! Hang on there Keiko! You're dead wrong to think that I-"

Keiko didn't let him finish as she stuck her index finger up at him. "You expect me to believe you after what I saw? Yuusuke, you baka!" Keiko turned around sharply, her nut-brown hair almost spiking Yuusuke in the face as she headed for the door.

"Chotto matte!" Yuusuke yelled out and grabbed at his childhood friend; he would soon regret where he grabbed her at.

Keiko stopped in her tracks. She turned slightly to see Yuusuke with his hands wrapped around Keiko's skirt holding it up to his eye level; of course, he didn't mean to hold it so high… Really.

Yuusuke quickly dropped the skirt of the school uniform as he began babbling. Keiko, however, stood with her gaze growing wider after Yuusuke exposed her rear-side.

"Keiko, I didn't mean to-"

"ECCHI!" Keiko screamed as she smacked Yuusuke across the face with a mean right-hook. Yuusuke hit the ground hard on his rump as he held the side of his face.

Keiko opened the door and descended down the stairs. "Grow up!" she called back as her footsteps were the last things heard from the fiery teenager.

"Kuso… Now I got'ta straighten this out too." Yuusuke stood up as he ran down the stairs, calling out to his retreating friend. "Keiko! Wait up! Keiko!"

The rooftop of the school wasn't left vacant for long because Botan appeared once again. She was still sitting on her oar as she hovered over the roof's stairway.

"Oh darn…" She huffed as she used her right hand to fan her face as the other rested in her lap. "I was suppose to tell Yuusuke about Seiiukaru still remaining in the city…" she grunted and looked out to the city, "But nothing out of the ordinary seems to be happening now, I'll just have to tell him after school I guess. Hope nothing terrible happens until then…" Botan sighed as she took off into the air once again.

"I feel a very faint youki nearby… Could that be Seiiukaru?" Botan turned her head back down towards the school building. She brushed off the notion. . . for now. . .

'But the strangest thing crossed my mind, why is it that Master Koenma told me that Seiiukaru is capable of destroying Nin-gen-kai… She would've done it by now with no hesitation… Better yet, she could've killed Yuusuke from their encounter last night…' She thought as she flew higher in the sky, "I'll just pay Master Koenma another visit!" the ferrywoman said in a cheery tone as she began to fade, vanishing from the scene for good this time.

Different part of the city, After school, Aitofukiji Junior High School-

"Arigatou Gozaimasu." a fifteen-year-old girl spoke up in a quiet voice. She slid on her big, chunky blue cloggers as she placed her white uniform dress shoes into her locker.

"Just don't fall asleep in class again." A boy with a bowl-shaped haircut slung his school bag behind his back as he began to walk to the door leading to the schoolyard.

The bashful adolescent pushed her pointed glasses up from their droopy position on her nose. "I won't!" She called as she slammed her locker shut and ran after the boy; her long, ebony hair flowed behind her.

"Ryiju-kun! Koibito!" the girl hugged the tall boy's arm as her rather short, creaseless blue skirt began to fly up a little from the wind.

"Ugh, Aimei-chan, please call me by my surname…" Ryiju placed his right hand over his chest as if he were hurt by his junior high sweetheart calling him by his first name. He then zipped up his black blazer because the wind started to pick up more.

The duo stepped off the front steps of their school and began walking until the wind caused some dust to pick up. Aimei had to stop to brush off some dirt from her black stockings that were also apart of the school dress code.

"Hai Hikibi-sama…" Aimei said in a dry tone. The two began to walk again for only a while before Ryiju stepped in front of Aimei, stopping both of them in their tracks.

"Aimei-chan…" Ryiju began to close the spaces between them as Aimei began to blush. He then grabbed hold of her shoulders and bent down so his mouth was directly by her ear.

"Koibito…" Aimei whispered as she closed her eyes. Ryiju then faced her.

"Go get some sleep, you look like Jigoku." The ninth-grader had broken the romantic moment from what he said to his girlfriend. Aimei grew furious as she clenched her hands.

"OIE!" the girl screamed as she chased after the boy all over the schoolyard, other students had sweat sketched over their faces from what they saw. Aimei then had to catch her breath as she kneeled down to the schoolyard ground. Ryiju on the other hand was at the school gate.

"You are such a noisy onna!" Ryiju began to laugh as he walked onto the sidewalk. "Ja ne!" was the last thing heard from his retreating figure as he left the school gate vacant.

"Ryiju! BAKA!" Aimei stood and dusted herself off, sporting a rather exasperated expression. She slung her school bag over her left shoulder and began to walk, ignoring all the stares she got from fellow classmates.

Aimei rounded the school gate, turning to the opposite direction of where her boyfriend took off. She stopped when she reached an old cedar tree that was planted a few feet from the school gate. Aimei leaned over it and closed her eyes.

"Ryiju is such a baka…" She flipped her hair back with the brush of her right hand. "Other girls say he is an ecchi too… That bastard…"

Aimei was about to start on her way home again until something took her attention away from anything else. She didn't notice the shadow looming over her, she didn't notice the golden eyes peering down at her, she didn't know until it was too late. Someone had pinned her to the ground.

After school, Around the upper part of the city-

Keiko was walking from store to store, shopping for her parents, carrying an assortment of shopping bags. She had went back home to change out of her school uniform and into something a little more comfortable; a creased gray dress that stopped above her ankles, white socks and brown Loafers, and a loose, white turtle-neck sweater. The whole time, Yuusuke had been following her like a stray dog.

"Keiko, will you stop and listen to me!" Yuusuke kept saying this phrase every five minutes; he was still in his green school attire.

Keiko didn't turn around to glance back at him but she did stop in her tracks. "I'm listening, Yuusuke."

Yuusuke looked around at all the passersby. He got a little edgy. "Talk! In front of all these people?" Yuusuke shouted, getting a few stares from pedestrians. "Mind your own damn business!" Yuusuke hissed scaring a few people; an old man turned his attention back to his newspaper, a student that went to a different junior high school began to sweat and ran off, and a woman took her child by the hand and led him away from the scene.

Keiko turned around, now facing Yuusuke. "I'm very busy right now, either tell me now or not at all." She said in a wearied speech. It seemed as if the pedestrians around them had no respect for anyone, they began to listen to the conversation again.

Yuusuke began to itch his head. "Keiko…" he then struggled with his words as he talked in a low tone, "What you saw, it wasn't what you thought, well, you thought something very different. And you know…"

The brown-haired girl lost the acrimonious pout. She looked a little clueless at what Yuusuke was saying. "I know what?" Keiko asked with a much softer voice; the pedestrians edged closer.

Yuusuke began to step closer and began to say, "You know I would never do that to you… Especially not you… Especially not to someone… that… I-" Yuusuke's heartfelt words became overpowered by a thunderous voice.

"Urameshi!" a teenager reared up behind Yuusuke and slapped him on the shoulder. He was much taller than the Rei-Kai Tantei and was being accompanied by three other boys; his so-called gang.

Yuusuke turned to meet the gaze of the rather obnoxious Kuwabara Kazuma. Yuusuke grew irritated, "Go away, I don't have time for you!" He growled clenching his fists.

Kuwabara began to bellow, "Okubo says he heard everything that went on on top of the roof, he told me everything! Right, Okubo." His words fell on the deaf ears of Okubo, his rather heavyset comrade.

Okubo was walking away.

"Hey! Where ya' goin'!" Kuwabara blasted at him.

The other two friends of Kuwabara-Sawamura and Kirishima-quickly jumped as they both said at the same time, "Don't you remember, Okubo has to work at his employer's shop before Ura-bon! Nothing but customers rushing in and out, back and forth, because shops close for Ura-bon. It has been that way all week."

"Ah," Kuwabara awed dumbfounded.

"… Baka…" Yuusuke huffed as he turned back to Keiko, who was still standing by him a little confused. "Come on Keiko, let's talk somewhere else…" Yuusuke grabbed her arm, wanting to lead her from the scene. Suddenly, Kuwabara grabbed hold of Yuusuke's vacant arm.

"Hold it!" Kuwabara laughed. His two other friends backed away.

"Kuwabara! I'll kick your ass if you don't get away from me!" Yuusuke growled, beginning to grind his teeth.

Kuwabara continued with his sentence, "Okubo heard you found a woman in an escort service last night and you two had a rendezvous at her house later in the night with two other people. Both people, from what Okubo said, were men!" Kuwabara laughed uncontrollably and then finished, "If you aren't gon'na 'preciate Keiko, I would definitely take better care of her, now that she is free."

Yuusuke turned to stone as Keiko's icy glare burned a hole into Yuusuke's shoulder. She slid her arm from Yuusuke's grip and took off down the sidewalk, many onlookers watching the entire incident.

"Keiko wait! Kuso!" Yuusuke shook his arm from Kuwabara's own grasp. 'How much more does my life have to suck!' Yuusuke thought as he looked back at Kuwabara. "Thanks a lot, temee." Yuusuke emphasized on the insult as he ran off after Keiko, flipping Kuwabara off each step of the way.

"Kuwabara-sama, you're gon'na let that slide…" Sawamura gasped, "Kuwabara must've grown a lot more self control." He admired.

"That dirty thug! That unworthy punk! I knew I should've kicked his ass instead of congratulatin' myself at getting' a shot! Come on, let's give him HELL!" Kuwabara pounded a fist into his palm.

"Spoke too soon…" both of the other boys said in unison.

Kuwabara was about to run after his rival, but then, 'it' happened. Kuwabara crouched to the ground, holding his sides. He began to groan.

"Kuwabara-sama! You okay!" Sawamura kneeled beside his leader.

Kuwabara coughed as his eyes widened, "I got a chill." A crowd began to form around the three now.

"Does he hafta use the bathroom? Sounds like it…" Kirishima began to glance around at all the spectators. "Nothing to see here! Move along!"

Kuwabara began hitting the pavement with the sides of his fist. "No… This one is much stronger than anything I've felt before. Not the life form of an animal… or person… This chill!" Kuwabara felt as if a thousand rusty needles were jamming in and out of his body; the chill was a burning sensation but felt freezing cold in an instant.

People began to chat and argue if they should go get medical help. The crowd kept getting bigger.

"This has never happened before…" Kirishima kneeled beside Sawamura.

"It's like Satan itself!" Kuwabara shifted his head up and began to glance around the area. He could barely stand, but he did it anyway. Kuwabara was still clutching his sides as he stumbled over to a specific part of the crowd.

"Kuwabara-sama!" Both boys said together.

Kuwabara began pushing his way through the gathering. An assortment of "Hey watch it" and "You can't be well" swept from the mouths of many that tried to hold Kuwabara back. Kuwabara shoved them all away and broke through the crowd until he came to the outside. Sawamura and Kirishima followed closely behind.

Kuwabara pushed one more man out of the way and stood frozen in his tracks. "This terrible chill… Comes from her!"

The two boys stood stiff behind their leader. Only a few steps away was what appeared to be a sixteen-year-old girl leaning her back against the pole of a traffic sign. Her head was turned directly at Kuwabara, her expression was melancholy.

Kuwabara was gasping for air, he practically fell over if it wasn't for Sawamura and Kirishima to catch him. The two boys holding Kuwabara just stared at the _AITOFUKIJI _junior high student. The black, long-sleeved shirt was stretched really close to her upper body as the skinny, dark-blue ribbon attached to the blue collar of her shirt hung low. The crease-less blue dress was severely high over her hips and would have shown a little too much of her lower body if it wasn't for the black stockings.

"Kuwabara-sama… Are you sure it is her!" Sawamura blushed a little as he glanced at his two other friends to his left.

The girl stepped from the pole, her blue, chunky clogger shoes 'clicked' on the pavement. She stood before the triad. Kuwabara arched his head up to the girl, he gnawed his bottom lip.

The girl's skin was pale and her albino hair looked as if it were in big, loose pigtails; only the pigtails had no rubber bands to hold them up. Her neck was completely covered from what looked like part of the black long-sleeved shirt protruding from the dark-blue collar. Her eyes were closed.

"Uh, sorry, our friend isn't feeling quite himself, don't take it personal-" Sawamura began but was taken aback by something that happened all of a sudden.

A strong wind picked up and seemed to push everyone but Kuwabara back a few inches. All in an instant, the onlookers, Sawamura, and Kirishima had all fallen onto their rear-sides. Kuwabara tried to straighten his posture as everyone else stared bewildered at the scene that happened next.

The girl opened her eyes and glared at Kuwabara. Her eyes were flickering gold! She began to speak… But with no words.

Instead, Kuwabara didn't have to listen to what she was saying with his ears, he heard everything she was saying, through his mind.

'Nichiren's ki… Comes from you… You are Nichiren…' the statement repeated over and over in Kuwabara's mind; the same thing that happened to Yuusuke.

"What the hell? Where's that voice coming from!" Kuwabara clutched his head and kneeled low to the ground.

"Nani! Kuso!" Kirishima gasped.

"Kuwabara-sama!" Sawamura shouted. Both boys tried to stand, along with every other bystander, but it felt as if someone, or something, was pushing them back down. As if gravity had became their antagonist, they couldn't move from their own position. Kuwabara was left defenseless.

The girl stepped in front of Kuwabara's crouching figure. Her hair began to ruffle back as she glared at Kuwabara. In just a few seconds, the fake Aitofukiji Junior High student raised her foot backward and slung it forward with full force; as if kicking a football.

From the impact, Kuwabara had been flung into the air and over the metal rail towards the left; he had gone through speeding traffic and was on the other side of the street. Kuwabara laid on the opposite sidewalk to his friends and the bystanders.

Passersby began to huddle around Kuwabara's weakened form as he lay sprawled besides a building. Kuwabara wasn't moving. After what happened, Kuwabara felt as if he had been knocked senseless in the head with an aluminum baseball bat.

The next thing that happened left many people in shock. The fake junior high student had stepped over the metal fence of the sidewalk that Kuwabara was just on. She walked out into blinding traffic. A barrage of tires screeching on the warm asphalt and countless horns went off. A dark smoke engulfed the entire roadway.

Kuwabara found the strength to bend up to see what had happened. When the smoke cleared, Kuwabara's eyes widened. The maniacal woman had an elderly passenger from a red beat-up old station wagon tangled in her hands. The girl clutched the young male passenger's throat, causing him to gasp for air. The man spat up blood, which in part, tainted the white strands of hair of the demented woman. She clutched his throat harder, the man's Adam's Apple rolled to the very top of his throat, now visible to all.

All the honking from other cars had stopped, all the chitchat from onlookers had stopped; the whole scene was left silent. The man's eyes rolled to the back of his head as the woman dropped him. The passenger landed through the broken window of the red car from where she pulled him from. The skinny man in the driver's seat was screaming his head off at what he saw, penetrating the silence.

The fake student stepped off the hood of the red car and walked over to the metal rail of the next sidewalk; the driver in the station wagon shouted "You bitch!" as she went her way. The woman stepped her right foot over the fence and arched her hands towards the street.

The driver wouldn't stop yelling at her as he ruined the silence, "BASTARD! What have you done! That was my father!"

The woman's eyes flickered even more as she clenched her fists. All of a sudden, those same shining needles from Yuusuke's incident with this girl, appeared outside the driver's car and whirled towards him. The roadway was engulfed in smoke once again. When the smog finally cleared, the needles were pinned in all parts of the victim's body imaginable. The driver was draped against his father as both victims were left dead.

The crowd that surrounded Kuwabara began screaming and sprinting off in opposite directions, leaving the teenage boy alone with the woman.

"How could you! Killing without reason!" Kuwabara spat out in a fury. He found the uttermost strength to stand, no more weakened by the pain in his sides. Drivers that were still in their cars shifted into reverse as they also left the scene. Kuwabara glared at the female, "They did nothing to you! How could you!"

The flickering eyes of the woman ceased as she began to scowl at Kuwabara while stepping her left foot over the fence now. She began to walk towards him.

Kuwabara stood in a fighting stance, just to seem intimidating because no matter how vile a woman could be, he would never fight them. "Kisama! Stay back!"

"Nani? Kuwabara won't…" Sawamura gasped, the force on his body still pinning him to the cold sidewalk on the other side of the roadway.

"This is bull…" Kirishima shouted, he was now challenging the force exerting on his own body by trying to push himself off the ground.

"Kirishima…" Sawamura murmured as he began doing the same. 'We won't give up…' he thought.

Back on the side of the roadway that was about to get some better action, the woman was now only a few inches away from Kuwabara. The Sarayashiki student took a step back as the woman grabbed hold of both his shoulders. Kuwabara tried to struggle against her grip but the pain he received previously from shooting across the street resurfaced, leaving him weakened. Unexpectedly, Kuwabara was too overwhelmed from what happened next to struggle against the female. The fake Aitofukiji student, now with her body pressed up against his, had her arms wrapped around his neck, embracing him in deep hug.

The victims on the other side of the street were perplexed. Kuwabara's muscles tightened as he left his hands stranded at his sides. His eyes were as wide as saucers from what was going through his head from what must have been from this maniacal woman. 'Nichiren… Join Seiiukaru in Jigoku… Forever… Together…'


	4. Case One Continuation 2

Above the entire scene-

"Nani! This isn't right at all!" Botan said to herself as she floated on her oar by the very top of a random building. The ferrywoman was staring in astonishment at the incident below her. Botan grasped hold of her oar and jerked it around. "I got'ta find Yuusuke!"

Botan shot off and glanced at every corner of the city below her, her face still in shock. 'That wasn't Seiiukaru at all!' the spiritual guide halted her oar from going any further. She hovered out in the open as she held her head down, her pale blue bangs covering her eyes.

'Master Koenma was correct… The Shitenno that were guarding the four gateways have somehow fallen ill during the last day or so, that is how THIS Seiiukaru got through to Nin-Gen-Kai… Those gateways found by the Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory are able to send higher-class demons to Nin-Gen-Kai! But how could four holy guardians be subjected to an illness like food poisoning? What kind of poison can weaken a holy guardian?' Botan lifted her head as she got lost in her thoughts.

'Master Koenma said someone has freed Seiiukaru… But that wasn't her at all… Master Koenma was correct after all! The person, better yet, youkai in question that supposedly freed Seiiukaru is just an impersonator! That is the only possible piece of information… That wasn't Seiiukaru… Seiiukaru is much more stronger… I felt that youki emitting from that impostor; almost as powerful as Yuusuke's… But why couldn't Yuusuke beat her then? Better yet, how does this youkai know Seiiukaru's trademark moves…'

Botan was bounced back to reality when she heard shrieking from below. The ferrywoman jolted her head downward to see what all the commotion was about.

"Yuusuke, I don't care, just leave me alone for awhile!" Keiko's voice must have broken through the sound barrier because she set off many car alarms and left birds flying in a panic.

"Keiko! I can't leave this half finished!" Yuusuke was chasing after her as many pedestrians watched. It was amazing how far away from Kuwabara both of them had gotten.

Keiko didn't respond as her pace quickened.

"Keiko! Chotto matte!" Yuusuke tried to keep up as he weaved through oncoming passersby.

Keiko turned sharply and shouted at the top of her lungs, "I could care less what you rather do with your life! To backstab someone that thought something _special _was there between themselves and another person is the worst…" Keiko said the last sentence with welling tears-she had dropped the shopping bags from the stores she had been to. The rush of crowds had stopped, Yuusuke had stopped. Did Keiko realize what she had just said!

"Keiko…" Yuusuke whispered, standing his ground.

"I don't have time right now to listen… Ja ne, Yuusuke…" Keiko turned sharply and ran off down the sidewalk, not caring for the bags she left behind.

Yuusuke didn't move from his spot, he just stared at his childhood friend's retreating form disappear into the distance. "… Keiko…" Yuusuke practically stumbled back as he closed his eyes. "When will you have time then… What did you mean by 'thinking something special was there'?" Yuusuke turned around, not caring who heard him. He slowly opened his eyes, only to practically jump out of his skin.

Botan stood really close to the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei now disguised in her nin-gen form wearing a red turtleneck sweater and blue jeans. Yuusuke almost stumbled over.

"Keiko will have time for you, silly Yuusuke…" Botan said in her famous cheery tone.

"Shut up!" Yuusuke was about to turn away from his assistant, his face a little flushed. "I'm going home…"

Botan grabbed onto Yuusuke's arm, "Now is not the time, Yuusuke!" Botan's voice was shaking as she grew a little more serious. Yuusuke turned towards her, "Seiiukaru is back…"

"NANI!" Yuusuke was about to pop a vein.

"You act as if this is new information. Didn't your Youkikei pick it up." Botan asked a little confused when she saw Yuusuke get a little alarmed. "You have your compass with you… ne?"

Yuusuke itched his head as he looked off into the sky.

It was Botan's turn to get a little infuriated, "Yuusuke! Where's your compass!" the ferrywoman grabbed both of Yuusuke's wrists and could've scorched a hole in them with her eyes the way she glared at them.

Yuusuke swatted his hands away from her, "There is no time for that crap! Where is the youkai!" Yuusuke demanded.

"Right now Kuwabara is getting a taste of what happened to you last night…" Botan began twiddling her fingers.

"NANI! I left Kuwabara like ten blocks ago as I tailed Keiko!" Yuusuke dodged to the side of his assistant and dashed off through the onslaught of bystanders.

"Yuusuke! Matte!" Botan spun on her heels and jogged after him. 'Master Koenma always gives me the hardest cases for some reason!'

Yuusuke had pushed over anyone that got in his way as he ran out into the open street to get to the next corner; you'd think he'd have better since after he got hit by a car before. Honking horns from cars and random profanity from pedestrians were nothing to Yuusuke as he bolted onward. It wasn't long until he finally returned to the sidewalk he previously was on where Kuwabara made his predicament with Keiko worse.

"What the hell?" Yuusuke gasped as he noticed a group of a small crowd kneeling on the cold pavement before him. He began to walk towards the people.

"Urameshi! That you!" Sawamura had his head turned a little to the side to see the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei.

"Huh? One of Kuwabara's…" Yuusuke was about to step further.

"Urameshi! Don't come any closer! You'll get stuck on the ground too! Kuso!" Kirishima spat out.

Yuusuke glanced at the ground below the crowd as it began to crack. The Rei-Kai Tan-Tei grew rabid, "KUSO! She did this didn't she!" Yuusuke growled.

"How did he know?" Sawamura spoke under his breath.

"Hugh! Kuwabara-sama!" Kirishima shouted staring back at what was going on across the road.

Yuusuke glared at the direction Kirishima was looking, his eyes even more enraged then ever at what he saw next.

'Seiiukaru' had thrown Kuwabara against the building next to her. When he hit it on impact, Kuwabara thought he heard something crack behind him. His back had made contact with the door! The teenage boy slid down the wooden frame and sat on the ground, holding his sides. A terrible ache was rushing over his backside.

It didn't end there. Seiiukaru practically shifted in front of the sore teenage boy and grabbed hold of his collar. She threw him behind her with ease as her expression stayed calm. This time, Kuwabara made a horrible collision with the very edge of the metal fence lining the road-ramming exactly into the top part with his spine.

It looked as if Kuwabara was groveling as he tried to stand back up. He didn't want to yell out in pain, what kind of man would he be, he still would stand tall for the ones that watched on the other side of the road. Suddenly, Kuwabara felt something trickle down the sides of his ribs and emerge from his navy blue blazer. Blood! A deep gash was forged into his back. Kuwabara clenched his eyes closed from the stinging that pricked at his sides. The pain got worse when he suddenly realized he was knocked onto his rear-side. Seiiukaru had kicked him with the heel of her foot, right in the left side of his jaw!

"eck…" the sound broke from Kuwabara's mouth while he tried to clench his muscles from the pain. He groaned as he tried to forget the aching. For some reason, he couldn't feel anything in the right side of his body anymore! Kuwabara coughed up blood that stained the sides of his lip as a stream of blood rippled down his left nostril. He finally opened his eyes to see the woman standing over him, her eyes frightened!

Seiiukaru crouched beside Kuwabara's broken form as she began to breathe heavily. Her index finger trailed over Kuwabara's chest. Her finger moved upward and rested on the tip of Kuwabara's nose. She wiped the sanguine fluid from the bottom of his left nostril away, a bloody tear of her own fell down the side of her face. The tear landed on Kuwabara's cheek.

Her expression returned to its placid demeanor as her golden eyes grew colder. Seiiukaru gripped hold of Kuwabara's neck and pulled him up, practically strangling him. She stood with Kuwabara's body in compatibility with hers. She grasped his neck tighter as she held him higher in the air. Kuwabara closed his eyes and gasped for air when he heard one of her statements racing through his mind again. 'Nichiren… Your blood… Joined with Seiiukaru's… We will be whole… _Koibito._'

Kuwabara was able to bring his trembling hands to her arms. "What do-I never did anything to you!" Kuwabara shouted opening his eyes to slits. For once, Seiiukaru smirked at him.

Everyone was left aghast at what their eyes saw Seiiukaru do to Kuwabara next. Seiiukaru had brought Kuwabara down to her eye level and closed her own eyes. Kuwabara's eyes bulged as his face became flustered; he had just realized that Seiiukaru's tongue was pressed on the right corner of his mouth! Her tongue was very fervent against Kuwabara's skin as it moved upward. For some reason, Kuwabara's aching muscles began to compress even tighter, causing an excruciating pain fill his body. Affection and suffering from one person-how could he feel this way from her! Seiiukaru had licked the blood from the right side of his mouth clear off.

Kuwabara became dazed at what Seiiukaru had done after that-he shut off the rest of the world. Seiiukaru's tongue brushed over Kuwabara's lips; feathery to the touch. Her tongue made its way to the left corner of his mouth as it performed the same thing it had down to the right. Kuwabara didn't understand how her acts gave him an arousal!

Finally, Seiiukaru had ended her confusing tongue teasing conduct by clashing her own lips with Kuwabara's! The teenage boy let his hands drop from her arms as his eyes widened even more; he began to moan. The kiss didn't last for long, the passionate Seiiukaru didn't last for long. The pleasure from the girl had stopped as soon as Kuwabara was bounced back to reality. He heard someone shout his name.

'Urameshi!' Kuwabara thought as he glared off in different directions, not even trying to break the kiss.

Seiiukaru's eyes snapped opened as she glared at Kuwabara. Their lips parted ways and no one was prepared for what happened next. Seiiukaru constricted her grip on Kuwabara's neck as she slung him back towards the building he had impacted earlier. Instead of hitting the door head on, Kuwabara was brutally knocked through the department window!

Kuwabara landed on his back as some glass shards fell over him; he had landed on most of the other glass shards that were now piercing through his skin. A female store employee ducked behind the counter, fearing for her life. Kuwabara yelled from the pain as his vision became blurry; the last thing he noticed was Seiiukaru flying through the window. Kuwabara fell unconscious as sweat beaded his face; trying to forget the sensual, yet malevolent female that gave him such pain… He did not want to dream about her if he would fall in a short coma from the brutality she inflicted on him.

'Now… You must take some of my blood… Nichiren.' Seiiukaru probed his mind as she brought her right wrist forward. Her left hand emerged from behind her, clutching a regular, thin needle. She pinned it into her wrist. The needle stuck out from the bottom of her wrist as it did with the top. The needle disintegrated when she pulled it away from her hands. Seiiukaru's blood began to gush out and drip to the floor. She began to walk towards the battered boy, her blood leaving pools in the floor. She crouched beside the lifeless boy and lifted him up from the neck with her left hand. Seiiukaru was about to extend her bleeding arm over Kuwabara's mouth for him to possibly drown in her sanguine fluid until something bashed her in the head.

Seiiukaru stood and turned around with her eyes flickering. Yuusuke stood in front of the department window with glaring eyes. He had thrown a glass shard into her neck. Seiiukaru stood with the glass shard protruding from the front of her neck as her blood spilled from the opening! She didn't show any weakening in her stance.

"Oi! Bakayaro! You wear clothes for that baka, but when it comes to me, you rather fight me without them! You've gotten me in so much shit! Hara ga tatsu!" Yuusuke roared.

Seiiukaru reached behind her and slammed the glass shard into her neck further! Yuusuke got a little edgy. The shard fell to the ground as it slipped out the front of her neck. All of a sudden, the gash on her wrist and neck began to close up. Yuusuke grew more enraged.

Seiiukaru began to walk towards Yuusuke, a very little blue aura pulsing around her body. Yuusuke jumped away from the department window until his legs were up against the metal fence. Seiiukaru flew through the window once again and stood her ground, the blue energy getting larger. She raised her arms together as a ball of her youki began to form within the palms.

"…" Yuusuke shaped into his fighting stance as his expression grew furious.

"Yuusuke watch out!" Botan made the scene as she stood on the other side of the street.

Yuusuke didn't move from his position. The youki in Seiiukaru's hand began to swirl and take form. Static electricity emitted over her body as her ki turned into what looked like a Ram! The sky grew darker as the male sheep grew larger. Seiiukaru then launched her Ram of energy towards the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei-it shot off with a bang! **BIGHORN SHOT**

"Yuusuke!" Botan screamed.

The Ram attack ripped through the air and slammed into the metal fence of the sidewalk. Yuusuke had evaded to the right and sprinted towards Seiiukaru in a split second. He shot a violent right hook into her mandible while she was distracted.

"You aren't an onna, You monster! It just makes it easier for me to kick your ass without guilt!" Yuusuke shouted as he punched her in the back of her head.

Seiiukaru wobbled to the side as she turned her head towards the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei-a mistake she would regret. He slugged her again, this time in the forehead. Seiiukaru was about to fall to the ground, but Yuusuke wouldn't allow it. He grabbed her by the collar of her Aitofukiji uniform and mauled his knee into her stomach. He continued this onslaught without backing down.

Yuusuke then slung her to the ground after a few minutes later. Seiiukaru was rolled in a fetal position as her dark blue skirt was propped up, revealing most of what was covered by it to the world if it wasn't for her black stockings. Seiiukaru shot up from the ground and turned around to face Yuusuke; blood streaming down the right corner of her mouth as a deep gash went across her forehead. Amazing how she kept so much energy packed away!

Yuusuke spat out saliva to the side as he regained his fighting stance. Seiiukaru on the other hand stepped back, something forming below her. That black void was back! It got bigger and bigger under her feet as it had done last night. Seiiukaru began to sink into the shadow once again, still with glaring eyes towards Yuusuke.

"Oh no you don't! When I start giving you your ass whoppin' you turn tail and run!" Yuusuke bolted over towards the black mass. Seiiukaru had departed completely as the void began to get smaller.

"Yuusuke no!" Botan screamed about to run off into the road.

"It's now or nothin'…" Yuusuke gasped as he stepped onto the ebony mass; he began to sink in too! It wasn't long until Yuusuke had been devoured by the shadow as well. The black mass then disappeared.

"Oh no… Yuusuke!" Botan glanced around the area, she then took off down the street. For some reason, as soon as Seiiukaru had left the scene, the pressure on the audience had lifted! The sky grew lighter. Everyone stood up as they looked around. Kirishima and Sawamura jumped over the fence and headed towards the department store where their 'great leader' had been thrown into.

Botan jogged down the sidewalk as police vehicles roared down the street to where the action had been. The ferrywoman was getting a little frightened, she didn't know where to find Yuusuke now… He was actually winning! How would she know if he would be okay, what if Seiiukaru had taken him to where she would have the' home field' advantage! Where should she look! Better yet, what was that thing glowing in Yuusuke's pocket as he jumped into that black void!

On top of a tall building a few blocks from the last scene-

Yuusuke had ascended from the black shadow a little confused. The ominous void disappeared into the rooftop's floor below him. He was standing on the edge of a tall building as he glanced around for his opponent. Nothing but a door to the stairway leading down from the roof. He got use to his surroundings quickly; other taller and shorter buildings were everywhere. He still was in uptown!

"That was one wild ride…" he said sarcastically as he jumped off the edge and onto the leveled roof's floor. The building's roof was very wide-very appropriate for a fight to commence. "Kuso…" Yuusuke huffed in annoyance.

Yuusuke got a sixth sense that told him something was staring at him from behind. He quickly turned his head around to come face to face with, who else but, Seiiukaru! It was her turn to give him trouble. She had knocked Yuusuke square in the nose with her elbow.

Yuusuke held his nose as his head spun for a moment. It only took a moment for Seiiukaru to execute what she did next. He slit open his eyes to see that Seiiukaru had lifted her right leg over her head-exposing a little too much of what the Rei-Kai Tan-tei didn't expect-and slammed it down on Yuusuke's head. It was her turn as well to not let Yuusuke fall before she was finished with him. She kicked her right leg back up as it made contact with the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei's chin! Yuusuke's back was arched forward as Seiiukaru then grabbed him by his ebony hair.

Yuusuke growled in pain as Seiiukaru brought her right hand to his face; her left hand still clutching his hair. That pale blue ball of energy began to form into her palm. But instead of creating a gigantic Ram, the ball molded into an assortment of many miniature ones. The tiny male ewes rushed around Yuusuke and vanished into his body. Seiiukaru stepped back as she released her grip from Yuusuke. He was shot back until he reached the other side of the roof. All of a sudden, Yuusuke had a rush of pain fill his body. It was as if he was on fire! He fell to the ground and looked as if he were getting jerked around by a herd of bulls heading in every direction! **BIGHORN MIRAGE**

Yuusuke was bucked into midair like a rag doll as a vast variety of bruises appeared all over his face; his clothes were being torn to tatters! Seiiukaru closed her eyes as the onslaught of abuse had ended. Yuusuke fell to the floor in a heap. Seiiukaru walked over to the teenage boy's sprawled body; she began to circle him.

Yuusuke stared up at her as she stopped before him. He began to cough as he lifted up his right hand-sticking the index finger out and the thumb upward as the rest of the fingers curled up. Yuusuke hoped she would take his bluff and let her guard down like she did before; he didn't want to use his newly recharged rei-gan foolishly. Seiiukaru's eyes widened but quickly began to flicker. She smacked Yuusuke's hand away as her foot made contact with Rei-Kai Tan-tei's gut.

Yuusuke slid across the floor only a few feet. Seiiukaru grew a maniacal grin as she raised her arms, those energy-draining needles of hers formed beside her. **BLUE FLAME OF EDEN**

Yuusuke suddenly felt something warm beginning to emit in his right pocket as he remembered what was there! Seiiukaru was about to launch her attack when Yuusuke jumped to his feet with full force. He dodged to the left, trying to throw off the youkai's aim for just a second. Yuusuke then crouched low to the floor and reached into his pocket and slung something at Seiiukaru's chest.

The needles beside Seiiukaru had vanished as her eyes had stopped flickering. She was staring at the ground with a blank expression while she held her chest. She slouched over as her own youki was draining away from her!

"Heh, I kept your little souvenir from last night that you left behind…" Yuusuke smirked as he stood back to his feet.

Seiiukaru was done in by her own weapon! The thin needle was protruding on the right side of her breast. Her left hand clutched the right side of her abdomen as her eyes narrowed towards Yuusuke; she began to straighten her posture. Blood poured down from her chest, staining the ground below her now.

"Listen! Just give up, I don't want to fight you anymore! Just take your punishment!" Yuusuke shouted as he held up his rei-gan, his reiki began to form at the tip of his index finger.

Seiiukaru took a step towards Yuusuke.

"This may kill you! Give up now!" The underworld detective tried to reason with her.

'Seiiukaru did not come back to die to the hands of you… Nichiren… JOIN ME IN HELL!' Seiiukaru broke into Yuusuke's mind as she began to dash towards him, her hands ready to claw at him. Seiiukaru was only a few inches away from Yuusuke when it happened.

In his defense, the underworld investigator had shot off his rei-gan as he closed his eyes. The scene was left silent.

Yuusuke heard gasps for air race through his mind as he shot his eyes open. Seiiukaru was breathing vigorously as she was flung back from the impact. Yuusuke's rei-gan had shot at her neck, but didn't go through! When Yuusuke's rei-gan had disintegrated, he saw that the black, stretchy turtleneck of her school uniform had ripped in half, revealing something unexpected. Around her neck was a shiny mass that couldn't be seen to its entirety; it appeared to be a necklace! Could that be Hell's Erotic Bond?

Yuusuke was unable to investigate further. Seiiukaru had clutched her throat and looked as if she were choking herself as she was now leaning over the side of the building's edge.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Yuusuke shouted as he tried to run towards her until he noticed he had fallen on the floor. His knees had given out from exhaustion. "KUSO!" how could he have pushed his legs so hard!

Seiiukaru looked towards Yuusuke as her eyes stopped flickering. He saw the strangest thing begin to happen to her. Her albino hair was changing color, it was becoming blonde! Not only that, her skin wasn't pale anymore, it was becoming tan! Seiiukaru began to smile as the cuts and bruises on her body began to bleed rapidly. Yuusuke was perplexed to see the beatings he had given her before get much more worse all over her face.

"… Thank you…" she spoke? Her voice had a high-pitched tone to it but was very virtuously compelling. All this time she could speak from her mouth? She wasn't mute at all! Seiiukaru's now GRAY eyes closed as she fell unconscious… literally.

"Seiiukaru!" Yuusuke yelled as she had fallen over the edge of the twenty-story building, obviously meeting her demise to the alleyway below. Yuusuke had a whole new look at how Seiiukaru had acted. She said 'thank you' to him… Why such a big change? Why couldn't she just take her punishment instead of resorting to suicide. No one deserved something like that, no matter how big of a threat they were… Worse enough, it was Yuusuke's fault that that happened to Seiiukaru.

"Kuso! No!" Yuusuke pounded the ground. 'I should've did something! Baka!' he was too hard on himself. Yuusuke tried to stand but his feet were still exhausted; he was giving a tremendous pain to them as he tried to regain his balance. The beatings he had received began to sting as he stared at the ground; he was left alone.

"Yuusuke!" Botan flew down beside him on her oar; now back in her pink kimono. Yuusuke was never left isolated for long…

"Hey Botan…" Yuusuke coughed unenthusiastically. Botan quickly leaped off her oar and helped the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei to his feet.

"Yuusuke…" Botan's soft tone grew louder, "Don't ever do that again! You had me scared stiff! You always make life threatening choices, going after Seiiukaru like that!" Botan noticed the underworld investigator had a rather sad expression over his face.

"Yuusuke… Where is Seiiukaru…" Botan asked as she peered around the area.

Yuusuke turned towards Botan, "You don't have to worry about her anymore… Let's go…" Yuusuke closed his eyes as he tried to turn around. Botan stopped him.

"Oh no, no! You always leave me with sentences half finished!" Botan grew a little angry.

"ME! You hardly know the next thing about a case that you send me into!" Yuusuke spat at her, losing his compassionate demeanor. "Humph… onna…"

"Excuse me, you're careless! Why don't you tell me what happened to your Youkikei then!" Botan let go of Yuusuke, his knees giving out again.

"Botan!" Yuusuke flopped to the floor. He lifted himself up and crossed his arms. "I left it at home, simple as that! Nani! You think I broke it or somethin'…" Yuusuke glared off into the sky.

"Huu…" Botan sighed. "Okay Yuusuke… Let's go then." The ferrywoman was about to help her partner back up.

Yuusuke nudged her hands away and said, "Wait… I have to do something first…" he murmured as he left Botan dumbfounded.

"Huh?"

Yuusuke placed his hands together as he thought back to what Seiiukaru had told him before she took that plunge. No, it wasn't her saying thank you… It was something that would soon be important to Yuusuke in the future. She told him her name before she fell unconscious… Her REAL name…

Yuusuke smiled as he bowed his head and whispered, "Rest in peace… _Akumada Kyoumi_…"

Botan's eyes bulged, "What did you say!"

A few minutes ago, Dark alleyway below the tall building-

Down, down went the lifeless body, falling past windows and clotheslines of the adjacent apartment buildings. The lightly tan girl that had fallen from the roof was increasing in velocity as the ground of the dark alleyway drew close. The necklace around her throat was still radiating even brighter than before as her dark blue dress and her blonde hair were being ruffled by the wind. Down she went, only a few feet from hitting the dusty bottom.

All in an instant, someone had jumped towards the falling woman, catching her in _HIS _arms. The figure that caught her from executing a bloody end landed gracefully onto the pavement. The man stared at her as his emerald eyes grew softer. He kneeled to the floor to get a better look at her; his right hand supporting the girl's neck as he stared at her quite close to his own face.

'You seem all right…' the figure glanced over her body, his eyes widened when he saw all the cuts over her Aitofukiji uniform and how she was losing a lot of blood. "… Not good, those wounds could be fatal…" he spoke in a tone that matched the softness in his eyes. He looked back at her face as he brushed away some of strands of her hair to get a good look at her.

His attention drew towards her hair-which was still holding its loose pigtails without the assistance of any ribbons. The tips of her hair in the pigtails were turning orange-very strange to see this happen to her. "Hmm, you aren't the youkai that has been causing chaos in Rei-Kai or Nin-gen-kai… You're just her puppet…" he spoke as he glared at the necklace around her neck.

A faint sound caused the man's head to snap; shifting his eyes in every direction. A black, mangy cat had kicked a can from the trash cans beside the 'two' youkai. The boy stood up and placed his left hand back under her legs as he brought her up with him; his right hand still supporting her neck. He looked around to make sure no one was around. The alleyway was very dark as smoke began to emerge from one of the vents of an apartment building. Trash cans were aligned besides both sides of the buildings as wet boxes were stacked up over each other blocking the way to go farther into the deep alley.

The man looked back at the girl in his arms as he began to walk, "I hope Okaasan won't mind if I bring you home… My stray kitten…" he murmured disappearing into the smoke, his long red hair flowing behind him.

Case one--- **CLOSED **

Japanese / English: Rei-Kai / Spirit Realm, Ma-Kai / Demon Realm, Nin-gen-Kai / Human Realm, Mei-Kai / Death Realm, ki / Energy, Reiki / Spirit Energy, Youki / Ghostly Energy, Seikouki / Holy Light Energy, Rei-Kai Dai-hi-sou-kan / Spirit Realm Great Secret Building, An-koku no Takara / Black Treasures, Kou-ma no Ken / Sword of the Surrendering Magic, Ga-ki Dama / Ghoul Jewel, An-koku Kyou / Black Mirror, Rei-gan (Rei-gun) / Spirit Gun, youkai / inhabitants of Ma-Kai, nin-gen / human, kutabre subeta / fuck you, bitch, temee / you bastard, kuso / shit, chotto matte / hold on, ja ne / goodbye, ja matte ne / well, in a moment right, onna / woman, ecchi / pervert, arigatou gozaimasu / thank you very much, baka / moron, koibito / lover, Jigoku / Hell, oi / hey, bakayaro / stupid fucker, hara ga tatsu / I'm pissed off, Youkikei / Ghost ki compass, kaasan / mother

New name meanings: -Nichiren means "sun-lotus". In Japanese mythology, Nichiren was a sage. Once the Sage saw the oni at work in the scourges of his time; performing enemy invasions, earthquakes and eclipses. He attributed the evil to the sinfulness of his Japanese contemporaries, so he founded a special school of Buddhism to reform the people. Nichiren in this story is a girl.

Seiiukaru is combined also. 'Sei' meaning 'star, 'Iu' meaning 'to say', and 'karu' most commonly meaning 'light' or 'to sheer'. Sort of a pun. Seiiukaru can't speak or say anything verbally, her victims see a lone star before death, and referring to 'sheer', Seiiukaru has many ram/sheep attacks!

Akumada is combined from 'Akuma', and 'da'. 'Akuma' supposedly means Devil while 'da' is a suffix that means rice paddies or rice fields. Together, it should be Devil Rice Paddy or Rice Paddy Devil.

Kyoumi is combined from 'kyou' meaning 'bad luck' (supposedly it does), and 'mi' meaning beauty. Making Kyoumi the 'beauty full of bad luck'. Excluding her past, Kyoumi actually gives good luck on occasions as we see her more later on. Her decisions are always life threatening and how she brings bad luck to herself.

The Shitenno are four holy gods that guard the four main points (north, south, east, and west). In the story, they are the 'good' sides of the Four Holy Beasts (Shujaku, Byakko, Seiryuu, and Genbu). Their only weakness is food and can easily be poisoned from the taste; which is quite rare since they 'kill first, never ask questions later'.

Author's Note: I had to split the first chapter into 3 cuz it was like 30 something pages long! sorry about that guys! But anyway. The Bon holidays is a celebration in Japan where it is said that relatives pay you a visit for the week. Bon (also known as O-bon or Ura-bon) Week lasts for seven days as you honor the dead in mid-August as you take time off from work, school, and the grave. Sometimes, in different parts of Japan, the bon holidays begin in mid-July; which is the time the O-bon festival begins in this story for YYH since it makes more since because my little theory between and after the episodes of when Yuusuke gets the An-koku no Takara back and goes off for the Genkai tournament seems like most of the students had taken a break for the summer (summer is from July twentieth to September first for most). Remember, after the Genkai Tournament, Yuusuke had to train for months with Genkai. Also, in the manga, Yuusuke smoked, just for those that didn't know (This saga revolves around the original and manga version of YYH, which explains why there is so much profanity and naughty scenes, lol, well, not all naughty scenes). ;; Aren't I an ecchi at times? What would you do if you saw a naked woman in front of you? Yup, I would call the police too. Anyone else hungry? I could go for some porkchopish legs! XD AHAHAHH its not funny… I'm really hungry… Well, please guys, comment and critique please. How can someone get better without help? And if you like the story please say so and say why you like it. Getting comments will inspire me to write more efficiently.

**Disclaimers: In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator so there. Also, the English version of the lyrics of "Hohemi no Bakudan" were not created by me but by the big shots that Americanized the song, so yeah. Lyrics for the song were found here, the best damn YYH site ever: You can't sue me now. Unless the currency in your country is dried up noodle bits!**


	5. Case Two: I Am Enraged To Meet Kyoumi's ...

Narrator: Before her departure, Botan informs an important piece of information to the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei; describing loose facts about a new mission the young boy would need to carry out. Unfortunately, Yuusuke took Botan's words lightly and soon came face to face with what seemed to be the youkai—a young onna—that he was instructed to restrain. The youkai had gotten away, leaving Yuusuke to fight for another day. The next day, after quarreling with Keiko, Yuusuke discovered that the youkai onna had returned—sending her rage out on Kuwabara. Yuusuke stepped into the battle and had supposedly killed the youkai onna. Now with the Bon holidays just around the corner, Yuusuke still hasn't gotten his vacation.

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

**_Case Two_**---**I am enraged to meet Kyoumi's twin!**

Through the dingy, poverty streets of downtown, a wombat the size of a football flew in a frenzy. The face and upper body of the bat creature was that of a topless female with the winged arms of a wombat. She was shrieking to the top of her tiny lungs as she dodged pedestrians still trying to finish shopping for the Bon Holidays. The rain began to pour harder as flashing lights from cars, street lamps, and numerous X-rated bars blinded the bat.

"What the hell was that!" a man dressed in a soiled T-shirt and ripped jeans had spoke up; his filthy hair being drenched by the shower from the clouds.

A woman ran past the destitute man and after the bat-like animal. She held a very bright pink umbrella that kept her red, loose turtleneck and purple stretch pants from getting soaked from the heavy sprinkle. Her pale blue hair, held behind her in a ponytail, whirled in every direction.

The wailing bat turned the corner into a dark alleyway. The blue-haired woman also turned into the same alleyway as her feet sloshed into a deep puddle. The female's right foot had gotten caught in the muddy puddle and she had to stop her hot pursuit after the bat just to get her foot out of her now ruined, purple dress shoe.

"Darn." She sighed a little peeved. The woman continued to run with only one small heel shoe on. She had been hot on the creature's tail until now. She began to lessen her swift pace to a slow jog while she went through the narrow back street. Her only hope at catching that monster now relied on her partner being able to cut it off before it got back to its nest.

One block away, still in the alley-

Yuusuke had punched the wombat creature square in the chest. The bat-like woman moaned in pain from the impact as she fell face first into a tiny brown puddle the size of a small notepad. Yuusuke stood before it and crouched low to the ground to get a good look at it—his hands resting on his knees.

The wombat's human upper body had yellow skin that radiated a bright peachy color while the rest of her body—which was her fur—was a steel gray color. She rose up onto her clawed feet, her pint-size lion's tail stood tall. She swabbed the mud off her fur as she twisted a quarter way around, just to see the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei that wanted to capture her.

Yuusuke stared at her with slits for eyes; he then crossed his arms as he was still stooped over the youkai. Yuusuke had Band-Aids all over his face from his last mission that was only a few hours ago, but most of them were only minor.

She double flipped her jet-black hair. As it fell back down to her shoulders, she placed her hands on her hips and scowled at the underworld investigator. Her chest was clearly seen now. Her breasts were full and perked up, but Yuusuke didn't bother diverting his attention there because of the fact that she had no nipples.

"Yah'll ain't rheally gon'na take mah in for trial? Ah beautiful bat child like mah!" She spoke with a southern accent, her voice, rather seductive, yet filled with honey. The miniature female's tail brushed up around her legs as her gray eyes sparkled.

Yuusuke itched his head.

The bat woman waltzed over to the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei and began hugging his leg, "Com'on sugah... Ah'll promise tah be fine an' dandy from now on. Y'see, Ah'm not the lil' ol' monstah you been hearabouts, deah." She nuzzled his leg with her cheek.

Yuusuke cuffed his fingers around the youkai all in a flash. She huffed and squealed like a piglet. Yuusuke stood as he clutched her tighter.

"Oof! Tah manhandle mah is da worse! Ah reckon you oughta be lettin' mah sweet self go! Ah'll fry yah'll like ah catfish." She growled as she struggled against his hold, making her fangs emerge from the corners of her mouth.

"You are one sorry onna." Yuusuke murmured as he squeezed her even harder. "After hearing so much about you, I would've definitely expected better."

The bat creature stopped struggling as she grew big, puppy dog eyes. "So yah'll heard 'bout lil' ol' mah... Are yah intrigued? Do yah'll want some of this..." Her risqué tone returned as her fangs shone.

"Hell no!" Yuusuke bonked her on the head lightly. "You aren't really my type, don't ya' think. Besides, all you are trying to do is sweet-talk your way out of my clutches so you can get back to that nest of yours. You've been sucking the life ki from humans, just to feed the stronger youkai that lives dormant within that damned nest. Why don't you just tell me where you hid the nest... Yasha."

Yuusuke hit a sensitive spot, the female youkai—known as Yasha—began screaming at him, "Don'tcha every call mah that! Mah name is Curvaceous Cannibal! Ah won't follow orduhs from anyone but my Oni-kaichou! Yah'll ain't gon'na make him yah'll prisonah without mah doin' a thing to stop yah!"

"And what can you do besides sucking ki away!" Yuusuke spat at her, Yasha got a little paranoid. "You have no attacks at all, pretty sad huh! The only thing you are good for is by feeding your big baby of a sempai! And after he awakens again, fully charged, what do you think would happen to you! You'll be kicked to the curve like—"

"Well ain't yah'll a regular ol' spy. Gracious me... Oh mah stars..." the youkai said sarcastically. "Why don't ah sho' yah what ah can do tah yah..."

"I don't take offers, especially not from animal girls..." Yuusuke ridiculed her.

"No no, Ah mean this!" Yasha's fangs bit down on Yuusuke's wrists. He winced in pain as the bat youkai brutally dug her canine teeth deeper into the teenage boy's flesh. He had to let go of the youkai as he began blowing his flesh wound. Yasha flapped her wings as she hovered before her competitor.

"Teme!" He shouted as he looked back at the bat creature. Yasha had, all in a split second, flown towards Yuusuke's face. She began scratching his cheeks with her clawed-feet as he tried batting at her. She dodged each of his swings as she displayed her teeth, tarnished with Yuusuke's blood. Yasha then bit down and shredded the Rei-Kai Tan-tei's nose with her fangs—leaving a deep slash in the shape of a frown tattooed to his face.

"KUSO!" Yuusuke growled as he pinched his nose and bent over.

"Ha-Ha! That's tha way tah doit!" She began to fly away from Yuusuke. She flapped in midair and turned around, glowering at the underworld investigator. "It be mah pleasure if yah'll ever want tah see what ah can do off tha battlefield, sugah! You'd just have to find me again, bye now—"

Yasha had slammed right into an aluminum baseball bat as she tried turning around to fly away from the scene. She fell unconscious to the dirty ground once again—her eyes in swirls as a stream of blood rolled down the side of her lip from her left nostril.

Yuusuke regained his posture, still clasping his nose, as he looked pissed.

Botan bent over and picked up Yasha by the feet. "Yasha: Kyuuketsuki; fifteen previous convictions. Has stolen the ki of many life forms to restore her sempai—Yofune-Nushi—so he will then be able to devour humans completely after being exiled from their world ever since he was born with 'interesting' qualities." The ferrywoman tapped the aluminum stick on her left shoulder as her pink umbrella rested on the ground beside her. The rain had stopped.

"The punishment of this Class E positive youkai is two years in confinement..." Botan reached behind her back with her right hand still holding the bat creature and, out of nowhere, came a spherical cage. She maintained the bottom of the cage with her left hand, which still held her baseball bat, and placed Yasha in the cage, locking it up tight.

Yuusuke removed the hand from his nose as he cracked his knuckles.

"Oh my! Yuusuke do you want me to heal that for you!" Botan said alarmed, Yuusuke just shrugged. "... Well... Did you find out where the nest could be..." she tried changing the subject, Yuusuke wasn't acting like himself ever since his last mission.

Yuusuke shook his head. "Botan, it's late, I just want to go home and sleep now." He rubbed his eyes. Maybe it was all in the ferry girl's mind; Yuusuke was just tired.

"You're right Yuusuke, I think we've been pushing you too hard. It is almost midnight and you had to go after this case right after you beat that Seiiukaru." Botan began itching her cheek with a slight smile.

Yuusuke's expression saddened. He still hadn't told Botan about Seiiukaru meeting her demise; he was going to go back to that building where their fight had commenced—just to find her again... To give her a proper burial at least. Botan had asked him what he had said about 'Akumada Kyoumi' resting in peace; he just changed the subject. Yuusuke began to walk off.

"Hey wait, Yuusuke!" Botan grabbed him by the shoulder. "How did you know just where to go to capture Yasha anyway, I didn't tell you that I would lead her this way..."

"Easy." Yuusuke lifted up his left hand and pulled his green sleeve back; revealing his youkai compass. "When you told me I had another mission to take on, I went home first to get a cigarette, and second, to get my compass..." He gave her a devious smirk as he reached into his pocket—taking out his cigarette and plopping it into his mouth.

"Oh, so you used your head for once." Botan giggled. Yuusuke got a little irritated at what the ferrywoman had said to him. He bashed her in the back of her head.

"Ow! What was that for." She demanded as she held a swollen bump that popped out of the back her head. "You have no sense of humor at all!"

Yuusuke grunted; he had been walking towards a dumpster that lined the bottom of a building. He jumped onto the opening and began digging through the trash. Sweat broke out all over Botan's face. Yuusuke had jumped from the garbage bin, clinging onto an assortment of bags.

Botan's eyes widened, "OI! Aren't those—"

"Ja ne, Botan." Yuusuke spoke in an undertone as he interrupted her. He walked off and disappeared deeper into the back street, leaving Botan by herself.

'Heh...' Botan spun around on the balls of her feet and bent down. She picked up her umbrella with her right hand, still occupied by her aluminum bat. As for the other bat, Yasha had become conscious and was snarling at Botan.

"Ah told yah'll! Mah name is Curvaceous Cannibal..." the youkai crossed her arms with a pout.

The awakened bat creature startled Botan. "Oh, hello again Miss Yasha, I hope you enjoy your confinement in Rei-Kai." The ferrywoman said full of joy.

"Doubt'it, without lil' ol' mah yah'll nevah find mah Oni-kaichou... And ah'll nevah tell." Yasha gave an impish grin. "That compass of yo' lil' spy can't detect Oni-kaichou... Jus' because of the barrier that contains him... It grows stronger each Bon holiday that passes, unlike that Mire Sutra ah's heard you and your spy talkin' 'bout..."

Botan kept her smile, 'So, she was there at Yuusuke's junior high school... That was the youki I felt then... If Yuusuke had his compass, he could've sought her out.' The ferrywoman tapped the cage with her baseball bat. "Well Miss Yasha, we'll see how you'll change your mind after your trial... If you haven't, we have other ways of finding where your nest is."

Yasha huffed, "Mah name is Curvaceous Cannibal... Only Bishonen and Oni-kaichou can call me 'Yasha'..."

"Bishonen? You mean Yuusuke." Botan started to laugh hysterically as she began to walk in the opposite direction where her partner had exited. Yasha's eyebrow began to twitch as she decided to be quiet and shut off the giggly woman from her thoughts.

Botan finally stopped laughing as her facial expression got a little sedated; she glared at the ground as she walked on. 'Yuusuke needs to rest... I'll just have to tell him in the morning... I still don't believe it... That Seiiukaru... Master Koenma was monitoring Yuusuke's fight with her... Why didn't he tell me? Master Koenma had told me to retrieve that youkai's body when I left Yuusuke as he went home before starting his next mission... When I went back to the scene, Seiiukaru... No... Akumada Kyoumi was gone...'

The ferrywoman's eyes grew dim; Yasha saw the change in her. The bat creature didn't decide to call her out on it, she just kept her eyes glued to the floor of the cage. Both drifted off in a calm silence as they wandered into the night; one resting in a cage, and the other, walking off in a rut—one foot with a shoe, and one foot without...

At the Yukimura Diner, a few minutes later-

"Don't worry, it's probably just a stray kitten wanting something to eat." Mr. Yukimura called behind him. "Just finish up cleaning, okay."

"A kitten wouldn't knock, anata." Mrs. Yukimura stood by the service counter with her hands crossed over her chest. "You aren't going to give it some milk like the last one! They'll keep coming back." She admonished with a rather incensed look.

Mr. Yukimura was holding a saucer of milk in his right hand as he stood in his tracks. "Oh come on..." he had a pleading expression.

"huu..." his wife suspired as she continued to clean off the counter.

Mr. Yukimura unlocked the sliding door of the entrance. As it slid open, Mr. Yukimura bent over with closed eyes, sporting a rather jolly expression. "Schk, schk. Come here kitty."

"Uh, anata..." Mrs. Yukimura began to giggle.

"Hm?" her husband looked back at her; she was pointing to the ground below him. Mr. Yukimura finally stared at what was before him—a sweat droplet rolled down his forehead.

Five shopping bags, packed to the rim, were jumbled together by the Diner's small sign of specials! Mr. Yukimura sighed as he picked up the bags and brought them in.

"Anata, did you call for special delivery?" he spoke as he sat the bags on the counter; sitting the saucer of milk besides the bags.

"Iie..." his wife was now taking noodle bowls from the sink and placing them on the shelves behind the counter.

Mr. Yukimura began searching through the shopping bags. "Let's see. Someone must be very generous!" Now he was pulling out random items, "Kome, curry packages, hotcake mix, wakame! Oi, ingredients for milk cream stew and oden! My favorite—Black black caffeine gum!"

Mrs. Yukimura turned towards her husband. "Matte... Those are some of the things I asked Keiko to get today. She came home without the bags and wouldn't say why..."

"Oi, your favorite—Black sesame cream." Mr. Yukimura began to chuckle. His wife snatched the bags up and walked over to the farther side of the counter. A set of stairs ascending up from an entrance on the outside of the counter lay to the side of Mrs. Yukimura.

"Keiko! Could you come down here, please." She shouted in a softer tone.

"Anata, look what fell from one of the bags." Mr. Yukimura stared at the counter as he fiddled with the package to his treat. A small piece of paper, as if ripped from a notepad, rested before him.

Mrs. Yukimura laid the bags back on the counter and strolled over to her husband.

Mr. Yukimura had the Black black caffeine gum's wrapper against his teeth as he handed the note to his wife.

Mrs. Yukimura read the katakana scribbled over the paper. "... Did little Yuusuke write this?"

"Hai, mother?" Keiko stepped off the stairs and walked towards her parents. Mrs. Yukimura handed her daughter the message. "Hm?" Keiko read from the paper.

_-Keiko, You left these behind and I'm not your delivery boy. I'll talk to you tomorrow—Before you set up for the gakuen festival. By then you must have enough time to talk to me... -Yuusuke_

_-Also- Hello Mr. and Mrs. Yukimura! _

Enclosed at the foot of the message was a messy sketch of what looked like Yuusuke holding his fingers up in victory.

Keiko looked back at her parents a little taken aback. Mr. Yukimura chewed his gum in nirvana—Mrs. Yukimura had apprehended the candy package from her husband and ripped it open for him. Keiko's mother gave a slight smile towards her.

"Arigatou..." Keiko turned to run back up the stairs.

"Did you and little Yuusuke have a fight?" her mother murmured.

Keiko clutched the note and held her head down; not turning back towards her parents. "... Of course not..." Keiko whispered her statement so low you could hardly hear her. She dashed up the staircase before anymore questions were asked.

Mrs. Yukimura sighed. She was about to finish cleaning up the diner until she looked back at her husband. She narrowed her eyes as she held out her hand. Now, Mr. Yukimura was trying to open his wife's Black sesame cream package.

He looked up at her a little startled. "Uh—I was just opening it for you, anata." He began to plea his case as she snatched up her own treat.

Mrs. Yukimura tossed a dishrag at her husband, "Just help me finish clean up."

One hour earlier, A different district of the city-

"I can't open my eyes..." a feminine tone spoke in a mumble. Her voice echoed throughout the silence—bouncing back at her as it hit the walls. Her voice sounded a little vexatious but had a trace of a frisky feeling. She felt something pressing gently over her neck and her body below. Was it a quilt of some kind.

Her ears began to wiggle as she tried listening for any signs of movement in the room. Nothing—not even a rustling of the body against the clothes of another. No one else was in the supposed room with her. The female turned her head to the right of her; it began to pound as her blonde bangs fell over her eyes.

The female tried lifting her arm to her head; her muscles tightened as a sharp pain spread through her fingertips. 'Gah. My hands are so numb...'

Through the pain, she found the strength to bring her hands to her head. She trailed her nails over the depths of her face as her cheeks began to swell. An assortment of bandages concealed her face! Small Band-Aids over her eyebrows, under her chin, and spread out across her neck were nothing compared to the larger ones that could hardly contain the blood of her more severe wounds. Gaunt wraps over her forehead were stained with her maroon hemoglobin. As for her eyes, cotton patches, held down with thin, white tape, were pressed against them.

"Who did this..." She whispered. Suddenly, she heard a cracking in a wooden structure. Someone was opening a door! The female quickly turned her head back to its previous position and jolted her hand back under the covers.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, kaasan." A masculine voice shot through her ears. He spoke in a soft yet slightly potent tone. The male behind the voice shut the door behind him. Footsteps, heard faintly, walked over towards the female.

The man most likely sat beside her on the floor as she heard a small 'thump' to the tatami flooring. She now knew that she must have been resting on a futon. The man sat something besides him as she then heard water being sloshed around.

The female then felt something wet, but warm to the touch, rest over her forehead. Her cheeks grew warmer as the man reached over and fixed the cover atop her body. Her nose went into a fit of sensations when she smelt an enchanting scent. Her caregiver's essence was just like the Camellias and Lady Irises.

Once the man had finished setting her futon with a better fit to the injured female, he then stood and walked towards the door. The female heard the wooden frame open, and then close. She was alone again.

The female was lost in her thoughts as she wondered where she was. The man called someone "mother"; was she in his house? 'Who was that man... Was he the same one that rescued my soul from Seiiukaru?' The female turned her head to the left now, wanting to drift off into sleep, maybe this was just a dream... maybe. It wasn't long for her to finally fall in a slumber, as the only thing on her mind was that of the rosy smell of her possible savior.

A nightmare-

A shadowed man stood with his back facing a small child in a fiery chasm. The child looked to be about four years old and was in fact, a little girl. The small child wore nothing to cover her tan skin as her hacked, white hair was matted over her face. Her eyes were filled with terror, symbolizing that she was horrified of the man in front of her.

The darkened man turned to face the girl, his own body blocking the child from viewing what was behind him. He had no features on his face—no eyes, no nose, no mouth, no hair—as the faceless man stepped aside. The tiny child's eyes widened in dread.

A woman wearing a revealing, sleeveless Yukata with wide splits on the sides--showing too much of her hips and legs—appeared to be in her twenties. The woman had her head held downward with her pale green hair falling in front of her—her face was covered to the little girl. The thing that really caught the little girl's eye was that the woman was being hung from her neck by a rope!

It wasn't just from the neck the woman was held. Five tungsten wires were dug deeply into both of her wrists and leading to the outside of the chasm—it looked as if the woman was on a crucifix. The young lady's wrist bones were poking out from her skin—the wires wrapped around them. Brownish red blood fell from her body in pulpy chunks and was causing a puddle of the vital fluid to form under her. A gigantic sickle was driven right into the center of her chest; her still beating heart pulsating at the sharp point of the scythe as the arteries linked to it! Bleeding from other cuts on her body, the young lady's face suddenly looked up at the little girl.

The small child began screaming to what her eyes had seen...

The woman's eye sockets looked as if the eyeballs were brutally gauged out. Even more blood fell from her eyes as her mouth began to open. The lady began gagging as if for air while something began to bulge within her throat. Inside the very depths of the woman, the bulge in her neck had burst and out spewed centipedes, scorpions, insect larvae, and roaches engulfed in a gooey, yellow mucus. A numerous amount of Tarantulas shoved their selves from the flesh opening and began scaling across the woman's body.

The yellow mucus spilled to the floor and began to spread towards the little girl. The small child tried to run but the shadowed man grasped hold of her tiny arms and threw her down into the substance. The creatures from the mucus began to spread over the girl as they began shoving their own selves into all of her own openings. The child began to scream but her voice was only muffled by countless roaches trailing into her tiny jaws.


	6. Case Two Continuation

First Day of Bon Week, the Minamino household, 5:00 AM-

Akumada Kyoumi's upper body jolted up from the futon, knocking the damp cloth off her forehead and into her lap. She reached her hands up and snatched the patches from her eyes and held them to the sides of her. She finally opened her gray pupils that were still dilated from being in the dark for so long. She had to close her eyes from the dawning sun that lightened the room.

"Be careful, most of your wounds might reopen if you handle yourself that way." The feathery voice shot through the female's mind once again. She forgot that the man could have still been in the room. Kyoumi turned her head to the right as she slit her eyes open.

The man behind the voice sat at a fancy wooden desk painted white. His cherry red hair was in a tight ponytail-it had to be longer than what it appeared because most of it was bunched over a bright yellow tieback. He was dressed in pale peach colored pajamas as he held a small, yellow book he had been reading. The man was really just a teenage boy.

Kyoumi's eyes opened fully now as she gazed at the boy a little perplexed. His emerald eyes sparkled at her; he became a little worried. Kyoumi saw that a sweat droplet rolled down the side of his face as he turned his forest green eyes away from the female.

Kyoumi's eyebrows began to twitch. "... Are you ashamed of me...? You having to tend to my wounds, knowing that I should've done it myself..." her melancholy voice echoed through the room. What was she talking about? The strangest thing was happening to her sclera in her eyes-it began to swirl in different shades of blue.

The teenage boy stared at his desk, "Iie, iie. I didn't tend to your wounds at all. Kaasan did. But..." his cheeks slightly tented bright pink. "Because of your larger wounds on the covered parts of your body, your school uniform had to be removed."

"Nani? What's a school uni-Oie!" Kyoumi snapped her head down as her own cheeks began to turn pink. The fact that most of her upper body was revealed to the teenage boy-because the quilt around her had fallen down to her navel when she awoke-couldn't grab her attention from all the bandages attached to her. A long, paper wrap would have been covering all of her midriff if her 'outie' belly button weren't sticking out from one of the edges. Band-Aids were stuck over her arms and upper chest. By the side of the female's right breast was a cotton patch held up with white tape. Kyoumi clutched the quilt up to her chin as she narrowed her gray irises towards the ruby-haired boy.

"Ecchi..." Kyoumi murmured. "Taking advantage of unconscious women..." the swirls in her eyes returned to normal.

The green eyes of the boy turned back to her, not realizing her eyes had been different during the time he looked away from her. "Iie. Kaasan was the one that did everything; I just checked up on you from time to time."

Kyoumi turned her head from him. A window was on the left of the futon-it was open to lighten the room since it was the only one in there. She stared out the window.

The teenage boy closed his book and placed it on top of his desk. He stood and bowed at Kyoumi. "My name is Minamino Shuuichi, if you don't mind, I must get ready for Gakuen. Today is Meiou High school's festival and I volunteered to help set up." Shuuichi smiled at her.

'Ugh, why would I care, I don't even know what a Gakuen is...' Kyoumi didn't turn her head to him. She heard Shuuichi walk to the door leading out of the room and closed it behind him. The female turned to eye the room.

The room wasn't very wide but the way it was decorated gave it an outdoor outlook. A kotatsu sat to the right of the futon as a narrow, three-row shelf was nailed to the wall behind the futon. So many books-thin ones, bulging ones, English Literatures, Studies on Biology, Biographies, Gardening catalogs, paperbacks, hardbacks, maybe even one or two manga now and then on each row! Many roses hung from the ceiling and over the walls to fill up space-a beautiful curtain of white and red flowers!

Kyoumi looked back at the desk. Over the desk was pictures hung everywhere of an older woman-was that his mother? On the very top of the desk was potted shrubs-How could someone be so obsessed with nin-gen plants. After releasing that boy's-Shuuichi's-hidden aura, she knew she recognized it before. He had to be. . . that traitor. . .?

Kyoumi's eyes wandered back over to the small table beside her. A picture frame was lying face down on the far edge of the table with a strange, black bonsai tree potted beside it. The sixteen-year-old girl was curious as to see why "Shuuichi" would sit a frame, with the picture hidden, face down. She wrapped the quilt around her and crawled on her palms and knees towards the heating table; the damp cloth fell to the futon's side.

As her knees pounded against the straw floor, Kyoumi now sat at the table. She reached over with her right hand, her left still clutching the fold of the quilt, and brought the picture towards her view. Kyoumi's eyes narrowed.

"This is...?" Kyoumi's gray eyes focused over the picture of a raven-haired girl. The girl's eyes seemed timid, as her ebony hair was short and cut in a way that seemed strange to Kyoumi. Strands of the "picture girl's" hair seemed outlawed from touching her faces as they stuck out. The girl very much resembled that... Was he called a Rei-Kai Tan-tei?

Kyoumi sat for quite a long time before Shuuichi returned to his room; all this time she had been staring at the "picture girl".

Shuuichi's crimson hair was now in a drenched ponytail as a long, dark green towel rode low on his hips. His expression showed a little concern. ". . . Kitajima-san. . ."

Kyoumi snapped her head up. She had been too busy thinking about this girl instead of listening to her surroundings-a mistake she would've gotten scolded for if _HE _were still here. "Kitajima-san? Who is this bishoujo?"

Shuuichi gave a wry smile, "A year ago, and still to this day, she is a fellow classmate-Kitajima Maya."

"You keep her picture-Kitajima-san's picture. You love bishoujo. . ." Kyoumi looked up at Shuuichi. The fifteen-year-old boy had walked over to his desk and reached beside it. Because of the desk blocking it from her view, Kyoumi didn't notice that there was a drawer beside it. He pulled out what had to be a_ gakuen uniform_?

"Ai? She was just an acquaintance who felt something for me. I couldn't acknowledge her compassion for me; those kinds of things don't interest me when it comes from others of this world and not of those I hold dear. I fight for the safety of others who are frail, not for being reconciled by strangers thinking that I could care about them as much. I had rescued her from harm once before from a vile creature not fit to call himself an otoko." Shuuichi noticed Kyoumi glaring at him, "Fortunately, she doesn't remember much about what had happened to her or the fling she felt for me."

"Fortunately!" Kyoumi shot up from the floor holding the cover loosely around her. "To forget something like that, to forget someone you used to love! How can you say that, why couldn't you at least once given her a taste of how life would be if she were with you!"

Shuuichi didn't speak, instead, he just sat at his desk with his clothes in his lap.

The enraged girl had walked around the table and stood behind Shuuichi with her hands on her hips. "You Oni! How could you do that, how could you erase her memory?" It was as if Kyoumi was accusing Shuuichi of something; how could she think he would ever do that?

Shuuichi bolted his eyes towards the girl seeming a little alarmed at what she had said.

Kyoumi bent down by the kotatsu and grasped hold of the small trunk of the bonsai tree. She brought it only inches away from Shuuichi's tranquil expression. "What kind of plant is this!"

Shuuichi looked towards her, "All of your wounds have healed, the bandages upon you can now come off. I trust that you would want to do that yourself..."

Kyoumi clutched the bonsai tree tighter, "Don't change the subject! What kind of-" the girl cut herself off when Shuuichi had picked up his book he had been reading from before. He had pushed it up against the right side of Kyoumi's ribs still covered by the quilt.

"Gah!" Kyoumi winced in pain as she dropped the miniature tree-the pot broke as it clashed with the floor.

"That wound could've fractured your lungs if 'it' had gone in further. 'It' had only scraped off against your bone. In the washroom is a patch I laid out for you after you wash up. You may have the bath for yourself, I am finished with it. The patch will heal that puncture while the bath will relax the tension in your muscles." Shuuichi smiled at her as he opened his book.

"A washroom?" Kyoumi shouted a little confused.

"The patch will be by the sink. Two doors will be in the washroom, one leading to the toilet and the other to the bath. You should know this, shouldn't you?" Shuuichi gave her one of his smiles, "The washroom is behind the door at the end of the left side of the hallway outside this room."

Kyoumi wanted to smack him so much as she shot him a nasty look. She didn't feel like being disrespectful-especially not to someone like 'Shuuichi' who had aided her. She would just do what he said. Kyoumi began walking towards the door.

"If you're hungry, my mother is in the kitchen fixing breakfast. She is also stitching the parts of your gakuen uniform that were damaged, it will be ready soon."

Kyoumi looked back at Shuuichi as she placed her fingers on the doorknob.

"Also, the quilt, I'll wash it because most of your blood seeped through some of the bandages and stained it. I'll need it back-"

Kyoumi grew an outrageous temper. Before she let him say the rest of his statement, she threw the covering from off her and shot it back towards Shuuichi. She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her-stomping towards the bathroom in her birthday suit.

"I was going to say I need it back after your bath." Shuuichi dropped the quilt to the floor as he began reading his book. ". . . Maiya youkai these days. . ." he murmured less irritated. Shuuichi kept his eyes on his book as he reached down and picked up the bonsai tree. He sat it in his lap and turned the page to read more about 'Onigiri Recipes'.

Twenty minutes later, room to the bathtub-

Kyoumi had ripped away all the bandages and threw them over the clothesbasket that sat by the door to the bathtub. She had slammed the door to the bath behind her as she walked in. Kyoumi now sat on a small stool by the bathtub on the pale blue tiled floor. She had been applying soap onto a washcloth and had still been scrubbing at her body all this time.

"Kuso! Chikkushoh! That Kora." Kyoumi had stopped scrubbing away at her arms and was now doing her midriff. "All men are himo!" She screamed towards the ceiling. Kyoumi grasped the yellow bucket of water in front of her as she threw it over her head. Her rage had seemed to grow dim.

She grew saddened as she brought her knees up and rested her head on them. "Why would he be called a traitor? To live, he came here, why? So many youkai spoke about him with different rumors. He resigned his reputation just to stay in Nin-gen-Kai..." Kyoumi narrowed her eyes. "Why am I talking about him! Why am I talking to myself!"

She began scrubbing at her hair; as hard as she attacked her strands, she could've been bald by now. Once her blonde hair had become completely foamy, she picked up the showerhead and began spraying her head from the soap. Kyoumi's hair was no longer up in loose pigtails-now it was pressed against her skin and flowing down. The fat, orange tips of her hair reached down to her shoulder blades as she stood up. She dropped the showerhead to the floor and stepped into the bathtub.

The water was steaming hot but Kyoumi didn't care. She rested her back against the side of the tub as she looked up at the ceiling. 'He was right, the bath would restrain the tension in my muscles.' Kyoumi brought her arms over her head and looked down at herself. 'My cuts healed so fast. Impossible, I am unable to restore myself so quickly without the aid of my Needles of Eden attack... He must have had something to do with it-"

The pain in the right side of Kyoumi's ribs returned. She clutched her right breast as she gasped for air with closed eyes. She sunk a little into the bath as she rested her head on the tub now, water streamed out from the bath and onto the floor. "Interesting. I didn't know that my own attack could wound me as much if it weren't for the purpose of healing..."

"That Rei-Kai Tan-tei... I remember that? Why did you do that to me..." Kyoumi clutched her neck. "You made me fight that Rei-Kai Tan-tei, you made me kill so many, what were you trying to make me do to that other boy ..." she slit her eyes open. 'You let me remember that, but why won't you let me remember ever getting a gakuen uniform! Damn Seiiukaru!'

She sat up in the tub and stared down at the floor. 'Unbelievable power would come to the one who wears Hell's Erotic Bond. But only the carrier can choose if Hell's Erotic Bond should be placed around the neck of another... But only the creator can release the necklace from another's neck... Why is that? I know nothing but rumors. I just wanted to avenge you, _Kombu_, I didn't want to kill anyone else but that Rei-Kai Tan-tei that killed you...'

Kyoumi closed her eyes, 'I'm going to have to revisit your brother again to learn more about this necklace, to learn more about how Seiiukaru took over me like that... And to retrieve my Oi.' She stood up in the bath and began to step out as she opened her eyes-they were in the same blue swirls.

"That Shuuichi... I can see the youki all over the bath of what he had done. Whatever seed he placed in this bath really did relive my-Geh!" Kyoumi gasped as she slipped on the floor-The water she had pushed out the tub was so unexpected to her. The back of her head slammed with a brutal impact to the rim of the bathtub. She brought her knees up towards her chest from the excruciating pain exerted over her body.

"OIE! OIE! OIE!" She screamed huddled on the floor-which was freezing cold as her bare skin lay upon it.

Two minutes earlier, Washroom-

Shuuichi had walked into the washroom for one, to brush his teeth, and two, to hand Kyoumi her school uniform his mother had finished working on. He began to walk towards the sink after seeing that she had taken his offer and was in the bath-he had noticed all the bandages draped over the clothesbasket.

Shuuichi sat his toothbrush by the faucet and stared at the thin, black patch on the counter. 'It is lubricated with the juices of one of the seeds I use to heal more devastating wounds, Akumada-san's will heal completely as soon as she places it on the opening.'

Shuuichi turned his attention to all the bottles knocked over in the corner of the counter. Shampoo bottles of all sorts, bath oils of all sorts. "She doesn't know much about Nin-gen-Kai, she must've used the soap on her hair." Shuuichi began to chuckle to himself. "Possibly living all her life in Ma-Kai." He picked up one of the shampoo bottles and headed over to the door to the bath.

"She must have the dignity to bring a towel in there after storming down the hall bare; even in Ma-Kai most youkai have the decency to cover parts of their body from others and not show so much."

Shuuichi stood before the door as he tapped lightly on it. "Akumada-san, your Aitofukuji uniform is ready. Also, are you sure you don't want to apply any shampoo to your hair instead of soap." He chuckled again.

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard from inside the bathroom at the same time that he began talking. Shouting from within came to his attention. "Akumada-san? Akumada-san!" Shuuichi called to the inside as the school uniform and shampoo bottle slipped from his hands. Silence filled the room as he waited for a response.

Footsteps began thumping over the floor-tiles inside.

Shuuichi bent down to pick up the items he had dropped, thinking that Kyoumi must be okay. He would soon regret ever kneeling to the floor.

As soon as both items were in his hand, he shot his head upward as he was in the process of standing. The door to the bathroom had slid open and Kyoumi leaped out into the washroom. She felt her legs wrap around Shuuichi's neck.

Kyoumi's eyes bulged as she stared down at the teenage boy. Shuuichi, however, felt his cheeks heating up, knowing he was blushing. His expression was a frightening alarmed one.

Rivulets rolled over Kyoumi's tan skin from just stepping out of the bath water; her hair was still pressed against her skin while a pulsing bump was on the back of her head. A thin, white towel hung low on her chest, almost exposing too much as it looked more like a body suit against her skin; portraying every curve upon her. The fact that her nipples were hard from the cold air didn't help Shuuichi one bit-the teenage boy was growing lightheaded as he was frozen from moving from the predicament.

Kyoumi began to blush as she brought her hands to her cheeks. Her eyes sparkled as she gave him an alluring smile. "Why Minamino-koi, if you wanted Kyoumi-chan, Kyoumi-chan and koibito can always lock the door of koibito's room. Kyoumi-chan can make koibito forget all about the festival and that koibito ever was a virgin. . ."

Shuuichi's face was pressed up against Kyoumi's lower region; his mouth was under the fold of the towel and by a place he would never imagine to be by until he was at least married. Her scent was that of peach blossoms as his nose went wild. He finally backed his head away from Kyoumi's crotch and tried to focus on something else in the room. Shuuichi had his eyes closed. How could Kyoumi say something like that-previously, Kyoumi couldn't even stand him.

Kyoumi fell to the ground and pushed herself up against Shuuichi-both practically sprawled out on the floor. Her hands were wrapped around his neck as her breasts were up against the teenage boy's chest-her nipples peaked through his school uniform that he had put on after Kyoumi left his room.

"Minamino-koi, why didn't koibito slip tongue into Kyoumi-chan's inner sanctum, koibito's mouth was already there anyway. Minamino-koi, take Kyoumi-chan now!" she said with calm eyes that leered at him as if she wanted him! Why was she talking like that! Her smile became deadly and more sensual as she drew closer to Shuuichi.

Shuuichi pushed her school uniform into her stomach-Kyoumi reacted to this and quickly grabbed hold of the item as she still stared at the fifteen-year-old boy. Now with her grip off his neck, he suddenly stood and walked calmly out of the washroom.

Kyoumi's eyes narrowed as she looked at his retreating form; she growled under her breath, "You'llscrew aroundwith Seiiukaru four hundred years ago, but you won't play with me now, bakayaro, Youko Kurama..." She began to laugh as she talked back in regular speech.


	7. Case Two Continuation 2

Shuuichi's room-

Shuuichi had begun packing his school bag in haste. He couldn't shake the thought of who Kyoumi began to remind him of.

'Four-hundred years... She was never to return, yet, she chose Akumada-san.' Shuuichi pondered as he sat back in the chair and rested his arms on the desk. He ruffled his hands through his crimson hair from time to time as his thoughts grew more intense.

'If she stays any longer, if she stays any longer? Hell's Erotic Bond might just heal and _Tsuyu_ will gain control of Akumada-san again. Even worse, she might just find out about my other side and things wouldn't go so well if that happens, especially if she finds out what 'I' have done to Tsuyu. But still, was it Tsuyu, or Akumada-san, who spoke to me in the washroom?'

Shuuichi rebounded from his thoughts as soon as he felt fingertips lace over his shoulders. He arched his head upward to get a glimpse of the most likely stranger.

Kyoumi stood over him-now in the Aitofukiji uniform that was tight on her skin. She bent down until her mouth was only centimeters away from Shuuichi's right ear. Shuuichi wanted to move away from the sixteen-year-old female but he couldn't find himself to doing so.

Kyoumi murmured in a feathery voice that could've been identical to Shuuichi's own. The tone was tranquil as she began to speak. "Why do they call you a traitor? Youko Kurama..."

The words shot through Shuuichi like bullets. On hearing what her once soothing voice had said, Shuuichi jolted from his seat-almost knocking the chair on the floor-and faced Kyoumi.

"I wouldn't have expected that you would figure me out so soon. Did Tsuyu tell you about me or did you figure it out from sensing my aura?" Shuuichi smirked, his visage became a little grim.

"Tsuyu?" Kyoumi looked confused for a second but soon shook off what he had said. "Seiiukaru says they call you a traitor because you fled to Nin-gen-Kai and didn't die like a true youkai would have... Still, you were shot by a bounty hunter, the great Youko Kurama..."

Kurama obviously knew he couldn't hide it any longer. "How much do you know about me, Akumada-san? I know quite a bit about you as well..."

Kyoumi's eyes began to twitch, "I know as much as I'm allowed to know. I know that you-Youko Kurama-were very brutal when it came to sexual intercourse. Is that true? Seiiukaru always shows me how you deflowered her before she died." Kyoumi clenched her fist.

"Hm?" Kurama looked off to the side.

"Does Kurama-koi think Seiiukaru-sama is better then Kyoumi-chan? Why don't Kurama-koi see whose better, eh..." Kyoumi began to speak in third person again as she glared at Kurama.

"Who really was Kombu, the Class C negative youkai?" Kurama's words came out in a hiss; still not facing her.

"NANI!" Kyoumi screamed as she left her mouth hanging open. Her eyes bulged and she became stiff.

Kurama closed his eyes as he continued to talk in a deeper tone. "In Ma-Kai, they said that Kombu was a legend-he went against King Enma's rule of Maiya youkai destroying just rice valleys. In Rei-Kai, they said that Kombu had numerous convictions for not upholding the orders of King Enma. Wasn't he a Maiya youkai like you? Wasn't he the one who taught you everything you know now? Wasn't he your koibito?"

"Chikkushoh! Don't ever speak his name!" Kyoumi raised her hand, ready to slap Kurama across the face. She thrusted it forward, but, her energy was caught and her arm was now being constrained by Kurama.

Kurama still didn't face her, "He's dead now... You want revenge so you miraculously made it to that mire sutra where Tsuyu chose you! How did Kombu die? Are you glad he's dead, is that why? Do you think he smiles upon the way you act now?"

"You oni..." Kyoumi whispered as she grew melancholy. Tears filled her eyes but she fought to keep them in. If she let them run, she would feel as if she would have given in to anyone subsequently. "Please... no more." Kyoumi was actually pleading towards him!

"No more? Why?" Kurama finally looked towards her. "See how much I know about you!"

Kyoumi gasped when she saw Kurama's eyes. They were beaming yellow!

Kurama dropped her arm and looked upon her more menacingly. He edged forward, closing in space between them.

Kyoumi stumbled back. She couldn't stop staring at his eyes.

"Are you afraid? Isn't this what you wanted?" Kurama's countenance became more maniacal.

Soon, Kyoumi felt her back come in contact with the wall of Kurama's room. There was no where else to go.

"Was it just an act? Now that I allure you, you run scared. You cannot handle getting what you want?" Kurama's hands slipped through the spaces between Kyoumi's arms and made contact with the wall.

Kyoumi tried to regain her serious aura but couldn't find the strength to do so.

Kurama pushed himself over Kyoumi to the point where his own mouth was next to her ear and his own body made contact with hers. Kyoumi closed her eyes as she tried to turn her head away from the youkai otoko. Why was this happening? Kyoumi was afraid of the Youko Kurama that was emerging from within.

"Let's see whose better then... Seiiukaru... or you..." the whisper became a hiss as Kurama laid his head on her shoulder. His hands now fell over her hips and slithered down until they reached the bottom of the skirt to her uniform.

Kyoumi was left speechless as her gray eyes stared at the foot of the kotatsu. Why wasn't she fighting back if she didn't want this to happen? Was it really an act to gain attention?

The more tantalizing Kurama was about to slip his fingers up her dress when-

"Shuuichi! Breakfast!" a serene voice called from the hallway as a tap came to the door.

"Kaasan?" Kurama's voice became feathery again. "Yes kaasan!" he called back as he looked at the door.

Footsteps walking away were a sign that Kurama's mother had left.

Kurama glanced back at Kyoumi-his eyes back to their emerald color. He quickly pushed himself from off her and walked back over to his desk. Kyoumi, on the other hand, slid down on the wall, until she was sitting on the straw floor.

For a while, both didn't speak. Kyoumi was still staring at the table a little alarmed as Kurama held his head in his palms. It was Kurama who broke the silence.

"Look, I'm-"

"Gomen-nasai..." Kyoumi said apologetic as she stood from the floor. She began to walk towards the door leading to the hallway.

"Please, I don't know what just happened. Gomen-nasai. Don't leave on account of me. Kaasan would love it if you stayed for a while... Especially for the Bon holiday." Kurama bowed.

"Arigatou..." Kyoumi whispered, "But I need to figure something out. I never planned on making contact with anyone in this city. You were just a side attraction. Go on living your life in this realm, as if I never came here." She placed her fingers over the doorknob.

"Akumada-san..."

"If I had my Oi... I could've asked you what your favorite onigiri was...I might've made some for you and your 'kaasan' as well... Kome is the remedy for any problem... When you go to this gakuen... Don't expect me to be in this room, waiting for you with open arms when you come home... Sayonara." Kyoumi opened the door.

"You mean Ja ne..." Kurama grew alarmed.

"No, I don't plan on ever seeing you again... Sayonara." And with those last words, Kyoumi closed the door behind her.

Kurama was left alone in his room. He would never see her again? Impossible. Kurama would never forget the encounter he had with the Maiya youkai being in his house, and how she made him remember being around Kitajima Maya so much.

Outside the Minamino household-

"I hate Bon week, nothing but mourners for lost ones." Kyoumi spoke inhumanely as she stepped foot on the sidewalk. "It's useless, remembering lovers causes distress. Distress makes the onigiri taste bad."

Kyoumi began to walk down the sidewalk, ready to leave this city. 'Meeting Youko Kurama was a waste of time. That Ecchi... Hentai! But he knew so much about me...' she grew saddened again. 'He knew about Kombu and Seiiukaru... But does he know about getting rid of Hell's Erotic Bond?'

The girl stopped in her tracks and turned back around towards the Minamino household. "Iie! I refuse to get help from anyone... I'll figure things out on my own!" Kyoumi huffed as she turned back to her previous direction.

As soon as she stepped a foot away from her position, she had to stop again. Something had caught hold of her foot. "Nani!" she looked at the ground to see what stopped her.

A disgusting red glob-the same color of Shuuichi's hair-was pulsing over her blue, chunky cloggers. It began moving upward on her leg.

"Kishoi! What the hell is that!" she screeched as she tried to move. Then, she made a move she-or others-would regret in the future. She smacked the crimson gel with the palm of her left hand. The red glob began to flash orange as it moved off her foot and into the street.

"Hideous..." she gasped as she saw the red ooze move into a sewer gate. Kyoumi was left alone once again. "Eh..." she stared at her hand for a minute to make sure there was no gooey residue on there. The girl continued to walk on.

'What the hell was that? Eh, that color, I'm already reminded of that oni!' Kyoumi grew enraged as she stomped off down the road.

As the female soon disappeared off into the distance, the red ooze emerged from the sewer gate, still flashing orange. It wasn't long until the gel took the form of a certain female who was screaming off in the distance. A certain female who wanted to know where she got her school uniform...

Three blocks away from Sarayashiki Junior High, 8:00AM-

"Nani!" Yuusuke turned around sharply. He had stopped in the middle of a crosswalk as many passersby rushed on.

"Yuusuke! Don't stand in the middle of the road!" Botan shrieked stunned. She placed her hands on Yuusuke's arm and led him to the sidewalk.

"Whad'dya mean her body wasn't there! Dead bodies don't just get up and walk away! You went back to that building!" Yuusuke shouted so loud that pedestrians actually stopped to stare once again.

"Yuusuke, SHH!" Botan grabbed him again and led him into a nearby alleyway.

"You just pile shit on me, huh?" Yuusuke growled. Besides his rotten temper, Yuusuke was looking much better. His wounds were completely healed-minus the Band-Aid that stretched over his nose from his encounter with Yasha. Yuusuke did not have his hair greased back and was also wearing cut jeans and an orange T-shirt.

"I was instructed to retrieve the '_victim's'_ body. KoEnma had been observing your entire battle with the youkai onna." Botan tried to make light of the situation. She was dressed in dusty-red overalls and a white, long-sleeved T-shirt.

"That Toddler thinks this is all some big comedy, huh!" Yuusuke clenched his fists.

"No, no." Botan shook her head really fast. "It's like-oh, nevermind, what I need to tell you is that the supposed 'Seiiukaru' you fought wasn't all 'Seiiukaru' after all." Yuusuke was still fuming. "The ruthless Seiiukaru that we thought was loose wasn't that much of a threat. Now there are warrants out for a youkai onna, known as Akumada Kyoumi, a Class D negative youkai who is charged for reawakening and possibly abetting the diabolical Seiiukaru. Conveniently, the Rei-Kai Toku-betsu Bou-ei Tai is looking into the epidemic."

"Akumada Kyoumi!" Yuusuke gasped, finally focusing on Botan's words.

"Akumada Kyoumi is a Maiya youkai with Spring-hare attributes. Her past is unknown but she has many convictions against her name. Maiya youkai have a soul purpose in life of destroying the rice fields of many farmers and field workers. Only when instructed by King Enma are they allowed to demolish acres of villages out in the rural regions." Botan paused to catch her breath.

"Akumada Kyoumi..." Yuusuke murmured.

"Get this, thirteen years ago, Akumada Kyoumi refused to obey King Enma's rule and has been making rice fields prosperous for unknown purposes. Worse still, ten years later, she had joined forces with a vile character known as Kombu, and had been killing off some of King Enma's best Rei-Kai Tan-tei! Kombu had many charges on him as well, he on the other hand, demolished acres of rural towns without the King's permission."

"... Akumada Kyoumi..." Yuusuke murmured again.

"Fortunately, Kombu was killed by one of our own underworld detectives and Akumada Kyoumi has since disappeared-our records have lost all trace of her. Now, a few days ago, Akumada Kyoumi has resurfaced, being prime suspect of poisoning the Shitenno and disturbing Seiiukaru's resting place in the mire sutra. Somehow, she had joined with Seiiukaru!" Botan gasped.

"... Hmm..." Yuusuke groaned.

"But Akumada Kyoumi is the least of your problems now!" Botan began to laugh as Yuusuke did a face fault.

"Booootan! More useless information..." Yuusuke growled.

The ferrywoman tried to grow serious again. "Master KoEnma insists that Akumada Kyoumi is now one of those small time cases he'll put off for another day since you have somehow restrained Seiiukaru's ki from ever emerging again with your rei-gan. You hit that Hell's Erotic Bond head on, it's probably in microscopic pieces as we speak. Good job Yuusuke."

Yuusuke finally stood back up.

"What I really need to tell you is that Yasha, now being in custody, is being interrogated. We still need to find her nest before the last day of the Bon holiday. Yofune-Nushi, as we speak, is still potent without anymore life ki. When he awakens, he will still be able to completely _devour_ the nin-gen race as part of his revenge." Botan began twiddling her fingers together, "What we did get out of Yasha is that she seems to really like you Yuusuke." The ferrywoman began to giggle.

Yuusuke's eyes bulged.

"She has a lot to say about you and, ahem, what she would like to do to you." Botan tried to whisper the last part so her partner wouldn't hear it. Yuusuke was unable to hear it anyway since Botan had been giggling through her statement. "Yasha demands that she'll only talk about Yofune-Nushi if you were present."

"Rheally, well, isn't she the little traitor, I reckon." Yuusuke began to itch his cheek as he mocked the wombat youkai's accent.

Botan nodded. "So you'll come with me to where we are holding Yasha?"

"Yeh, whatever..." Yuusuke shrugged.

"All right! Let's go!" Botan smiled full of exultation as she latched onto Yuusuke's arm and began pulling him.

Yuusuke didn't budge, "Nani! Chotto matte! I can't go now!"

"Huh? Why!" Botan shrieked, loosening her group.

Yuusuke shook his arm from Botan's grip. "I'm meeting Keiko at school and I'm running late." The Rei-Kai Tan-tei began to jog off.

"Yuusuke!" Botan whined.

"Hey, you said I have until the end of Bon right? What's the worst that can happen if we postpone?" Yuusuke called behind him. "Ja ne!"

"Oh... On other days you can't even get up this early just to go to school." Botan puffed up her cheeks. She was left isolated in the quiet alleyway. It hadn't hit her until now that she forgot to relay another important detail to Yuusuke.

"Oh darn." Botan knocked herself over the head gently with her right knuckle. "I forgot something again... The one who saved Akumada Kyoumi from her murderous pitfall was. . ."

Meiou High School-

Kurama had rounded the school gate only to meet the backs of many Meiou High students and faculty. There was commotion and chatter heard in every direction; girls were screaming, an assortment of people were yelling at each other, and the principal had a head ache.

'Hmm,' Kurama stood his ground, 'from the looks of it, only half of the stands are set up. The festival starts tonight, what havoc has caused so much turmoil among each other?'

As if getting his answer, a huge 'bang' was heard from one of the concession stands closer to the school. A black smog engulfed the Okonomiyaki stand and most of the crowd surrounding it.

"Fire! Help!" a teacher had yelled as onlookers beside him had begun running for their lives.

The fifteen-year-old redhead was safe from inhaling any of the smoke as he still stood by the gate. He whispered, "A familiar youki..." Students began to charge pass him.

Kurama began pushing his way through the gathering and tried to get over to the stand that caught on fire. Sparks from the flame were vaguely seen through the black haze. The young youkai was too fixated on the booth that he didn't feel someone tug on his uniform sleeve. He small voice began blabbering into Kurama's ear.

The emerald eyes of Kurama glanced back to confront the face of a female student. Her auburn hair was bunched in a tight ponytail with numerous shiny hair-clips stuck everywhere. Her hazel eyes trembled as her mouth was going a mile a minute.

"Nibouko-san, calm down..." Kurama spoke untroubled. He had placed his fingers lightly over the pale girl's cheeks as he tried to stop her from shivering. "What has happened?"

The girl began to speak slow, but also louder to be heard through all the screaming. "It came from out of nowhere! Me and Maya were retrieving items from the Gym storage shed. It tried to attack me! Maya had shoved me out of the way and tried to fight it off." Tears filled the young girl's eyes.

Kurama lost all trace of being calm as he shouted, "Where's Kitajima-san!"

The female student tried to not rush, "She ran! It followed! You got'ta help, Minamino-san!" she pointed to where the concession stand, now ablaze, once stood. "She was in there!"

Kurama had let go of his fellow student and had been rushing through the crowd---shoving anyone who got in his way.

"Hurry Minamino-san!" The high school girl called as she was swept away from the hysteria by herds of students.

As soon as Kurama was only a few feet away from the booth, another crash was heard. Kurama had halted from his pace as he looked on.

The roof of the stand had burst open as more of the black haze emerged; residue flew in every direction. More sparks from the flame were carried away by the wind as the fire was getting out of hand-adjacent booths were about to be consumed by the inferno also. Diverse movements were heard on the inside, as if something began to crack. Kurama's eyes weren't prepared for what they saw next.

Exploding from the roof of the stand, a screaming figure had been whirling through the sky-as if flung through the air.

"Ahhh! That poor girl!" A female teacher shrieked in horror while others began to stare in astonishment.

Kurama's irises grew small, "Maya!"

Indeed, the screaming person was in fact Kitajima Maya. Her shoulder-length, coal black hair coiled behind her while her eyes were rolling around as if she was experiencing an epileptic fit. Most of her school uniform was singed from the fire and various burns were sketched on her pale peach skin.

Kurama was about to make a move but immediately stood in his tracks.

Another figure shot from the booth and was now soaring through the air. The figure latched onto Maya's midriff and both were hurled to the ground by the school.

Maya's back had struck the wall of the school and she now lay sprawled out in the dirt unconscious. Her ebony hair was matted over her face as her uniform's skirt was practically up past her navel. Maya laid there on the floor as if dead.

Maya's assailant had landed on the ground with ease and was now facing the crowd-the ravager was, in truth, a female. Her wild, shoulder-length blonde hair was in loose pigtails with fat orange tips. Most of her tan skin was hidden by her conservative, yet a few sizes too small, Aitofukuji School uniform. The attacker's gray eyes beamed at a certain redhead among the crowd.

"Akumada-san?" Kurama was left aghast.

Kyoumi turned towards the fallen Meiou High student. She had bent down and gathered Maya's lifeless body into her arms. Kyoumi then glanced back to peer at Kurama's unsettled expression. A maniacal smirk tugged at the corners of Kyoumi's mouth.

'Iie!' Kurama broke out in a raving sprint-a speed that could have rivaled a certain Forbidden child of Koorime.

Kyoumi didn't allow Kurama to get any closer. A pale blue ki began to gather around Maya's torso. The ki to the shape of chains that illuminated with the pale blue light of Kyoumi's ki. One end of the glowing metal links tightened around Maya as the other end shot up to the top of the Meiou High School roof. **BLUE FLAME CHAIN**

"Release her!" Kurama growled, not weakening his pace.

All in one split second, the chain twirled Maya up to the roof like a yo-yo; Kurama had been only a few inches away from grasping hold of Maya. Kyoumi on the other hand, with now free hands, pointed her left palm upward and dodged the deadly punches of Kurama's fury.

"What has befallen you, Akumada!" Kurama swatted at her over and over but Kyoumi backed off each time.

Suddenly, another pale blue ki formed in Kyoumi's left palm. The skin on her wrist began to pulse and bulge. The bulge had burst open as a sharp point of what looked like a rusty blade began to emerge from the vein in her wrist. Kyoumi's blood seeped from the open-wound and rolled down her arm-hardly visible because of the long, black sleeve of her Aitofukuji uniform. Kyoumi pulled the bloody blade--now revealed to be a twenty-seven inch long, seven-inch wide sickle's blade--from her palm. The slit in her wrist recovered while her hand was still stained from her vital fluid.

Kurama grew cautious and aware of what Kyoumi possibly wanted to do with the weapon. Kurama edged back in defense; a rueful mistake. Kyoumi did not use the blade as a weapon, instead, it levitated in midair. The blue clogs of the sixteen-year-old youkai stepped onto the blade-the sickle began to pulsate with a blue ki. **SURF OF BLUE FLAME**

The sickle shot off faster than a blink of the eye with Kyoumi riding it like a snowboard. Both Maya and the youkai onna were gone from sight.

The crowd was left speechless as sirens of fire trucks, followed by police cars and ambulances, made the scene.

'Was that you Akumada-san?' Kurama had no time to waste, the youki from Kyoumi was still sensed in the air; she had not gone far. The redheaded youkai dashed for the school gate before the police could restrain him. He remained unseen from the police as they tried to gather the crowd as 'witnesses'.

Kurama slipped by the authorities and found himself sprinting on the sidewalk-now blocks away from the school. He knew what he had to do now. He had to save his "picture girl" once again; not from Yatsude this time, but from a youkai onna he had had in his house as a guest. Why would Kyoumi want to put Maya, someone Kyoumi did not know but still felt remorse for, through so much pain---especially after the hospitality Kurama had given her. Was Kyoumi trying to show Kurama that he must have cared for Maya? Was this another one of Kyoumi's acts. She said 'Sayonara' to him, she did not mean it after all.

Kurama kept his quickening pace as he sprinted off in the direction Kyoumi's ki was felt. Off in the direction Kyoumi must have taken Maya. Off in the direction of Sarayashiki Junior High.

**Case two--- PENDING CLOSURE**

Japanese / English: Kyuuketsuki / blood (ki)-sucking demon, Bishounen / Pretty boy, kaichou / boss, Oni / devils or ogres of the underworld, Anata / said by people who are close (wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend), Iie / disagreement, Hai / agreement, Gakuen / School, onigiri or omusabi / rice ball, manga / Japanese style comics, bonsai / miniature cultivated trees, kishoi / gross, Ai / love, otoko / man, Bishoujo / Pretty girl, chikkushoh / goddamn it, Kora / a little more politer then temee, himo / pimp(s), koi (short for Koibito) / lover, Sayonara / final goodbye, yamero / you'd better give up, Rei-Kai Toku-betsu Bou-ei Tai / Spirit Realm special-defense squad, kotatsu / heating table, tatami / straw floor

New name meanings: -Yasha is a vampire bat from Japanese mythology. It is believed that it is the spirit of a woman whose anger lowered her status in rebirth. In the story, she is half woman, half bat with the upper body resembling a naked Barbie doll. Yasha would betray her sempai for any pretty face and has a tendency for spying-which she is rather good at.

Yofune-Nushi is a sea serpent from Japanese mythology. It lived in cave under the rocks of the Oki Island's coast. Every year on the night of June 13, the serpent had to be offered a fair maiden. If this were refused, the creature would cause storms and destroy the fishing fleet. One year, a young girl, called Tokoyo, volunteered to go as the serpent's next victim. When the monster approached her, ready to devour her, she pulled a knife and slashed at its eyes, blinding it. When the serpent reared back in pain and confusion, Tokoyo slew it. In the story, Yofune is a small boy with bat wings that is under a coma. The small child was placed under a coma because he was a corrupted oni that wanted nin-gens dead-he loves the taste of nin-gen flesh. He can't survive in Nin-gen-kai long enough without life ki until he is reawakened. Yasha feeds him life ki so he will stay alive until he wakes up (which would be on the last day of Bon week). Yofune grows older each time Yasha feeds him life ki.

Kombu is a type of rice ball that is filled with chopped kelp. In the story, a man named 'Kombu' seems to be very important to Kyoumi.

Tsuyu is a girl from Japanese legend who fell in love with a young samurai. He could not marry her immediately and was later told that she had died while he was away. Tsuyu ("Dew") waited for him but the samurai, believing the girl dead, forgot all about her and she finally died of grief. Her ghost returned and haunted the samurai's house until she finally joined him in bed. The next morning he was found, dead, in a tight embrace with a skeleton. In the story, Tsuyu is Seiiukaru's true name-but her true origin will remain secret for a little while longer.

Maiya is Japanese for Rice Field.

An Oi is a traditional Japanese straw backpack used in ancient Japanese times. You would walk down the road tossing different objects into them. For Kyoumi, she keeps her clothes, onigiri/omusubi recipes, and etceteras inside it...

A Yukata is much lighter then the kimono and is worn during the light days or warmer evenings.

Japanese Food: Kome (rice), hotcake (pancake), wakame (seaweed), Oden (like a potluck), Curry, Milk cream stew, Black black caffeine gum, Black sesame cream.

Author's Note: Also hand to break this up as well, ugh. But anyway, Black black caffeine gum and Black sesame cream are real names of snacks in Japan; and no, I do not know if they are Mr. and Mrs. Yukimura's favorites. No, the whole garden theme isn't the layout of Kurama's real room; this fic takes place before he changes his room to look more nin-gen! Lol. A note about Kyoumi: She begins to talk in third person a lot when she tries to act seductive around other people (she'll be doing that a lot). During the first day of the Bon week, the deceased show up for the rest of the holiday and then return to the grave on the last day (seven days later).

**Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator so there. You can't sue me now. Unless the currency in your country is dried up noodle bits!**


	8. Case Three: Attack of the Gel pet! Who i...

Narrator: Instructed to take on another case, Yuusuke enforces it reluctantly. Only a few hours after fighting the supposed enchantress Seiiukaru, the Rei-Kai Tan-Tei still remains battered. He manages to confront, and capture, the ki-sucking oni, Yasha, but that was only half of his case. The more powerful Yofune-Nushi, is hidden from Yuusuke's youkai compass because of Yasha--forcing Yuusuke to seek the help of the wombat youkai. Trying to make peace with Keiko, Yuusuke rushes off to gakuen, hoping that after this predicament is settled, he could finally get his vacation.

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

**_Case Three_---Attack of the Gel pet! Who is our new enemy?**

"Made it, now all I gotta do is find Keiko." Yuusuke said to himself in a hushed tone as he walked through his school's gate. The students really didn't waste much time at getting started so early. They were already building the stands and hanging up lanterns on trees. Yuusuke overheard a couple of his classmates talking—well, he thought they were in his class, he really didn't know since he mainly never went to class.

"I can't wait to see the other dancers at the shrine, I've memorized the movements already for my sect's dancing." A girl with short black hair spoke.

Another girl with longer black hair replied to her. "Let's hurry and get our booth up. My relatives live all the way Tokushima. I get to go there every year with my parents and watch Awa odori! Odoru aho ni miru aho; onaji aho nara odoranya son son!"

A boy joined in their conversation. "Me and some of the guys are going up to the graves tonight and scaring all the visitors there. HAHA!"

"Okijou, you're so rude!" The girls said together.

'Everyone's so excited. Lucky for them they get to actually have a vacation.' Yuusuke sighed. He soon noticed through the tight crowd of busy student workers, one of Keiko's friends was instructing others to do certain things with different booths.

"Hey Natsuko, seen Keiko around?" Yuusuke quickly asked as he walked up to her.

"Hai, make sure you get the right kind of fish. And you Hijame-san, don't forget to check all the masks for accuracy. Oh, ohayo Yuusuke. Now, I'm going to need you to—" the auburn-haired girl went on like the never-ending flow of a river stream.

"Slow down, I just want to know where Keiko is, I'm here to talk to her, not work... believe me I have enough of that." Yuusuke yawned finally noticing how early it was.

Natsuko pushed up her glasses. "Honestly Yuusuke, you could at least do something more productive instead of lazing around. Don't you do enough of that during school."

Yuusuke's eyebrow began to twitch. "Where's Keiko, pleeease." He said getting very annoyed.

"She's out by the gym storage helping the guys in the science club move in some equipment left out by the gym teacher. She'll be back any minute, but in the mean time you can help me carry this big fella' to one of the stands." Natsuko held up a gigantic fish that appeared from behind her. It was flopping and struggling in her arms. "Huh? Where'd he go. Ugh, truthfully, I don't know what Keiko sees in him. Wah!" Natsuko was toppled over by the outrageous fish.

Gym Storage-

"Feh... No one's even here. Damn that Natsuko." Yuusuke punched the wall of the storage shack and slumped down to the ground. "Well it is still open so they should be coming back soon I guess. I'll just wait a while over here then." The boy dug into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and plopped it in his mouth. He began feeling around for a match or a lighter. "Darn, I remember taking my mom's lighter this morning while she was asleep, where is it."

"Care for a light, Urameshi." A menacing voice loomed behind Yuusuke as he shot up from the ground to encounter two of the teachers that opposed him.

"Iwamoto and Akaishi. What's up?" Yuusuke smirked with the cigarette between his teeth, not caring what they did.

"Possession of drugs, that can lead to your suspension, Urameshi." The sniveling Akaishi said, hunched up beside Mr. Iwamoto.

"Better yet, expulsion." Iwamoto said slyly. "So wonderful to see you've made it to school on time when it wasn't even mandatory due to the holidays."

"Eh whatever, I'm sure you remember my mom and her little friends that visited the Principal to get me back into school. Let me tell ya, her friends hate to see her unhappy. And if I'm kicked out, she's gonna be pretty unhappy. Whatcha gonna do?" Yuusuke mused arrogantly.

"Like I always say, like mother, like son. Both are such low life hellions frightened to accept the hard points in life and rather take the easy way out. Can't fight for yourself huh? You know, you should've stayed dead, still the same sleazy trash you would have always been. Just like your mother." Iwamoto struck a nerve.

"You take that back!" Yuusuke was readying a punched aimed right for Iwamoto's nose.

"Oh, do it. It will be such an honor to see you expelled." Akaishi choked out in a chortle.

Yuusuke was just about to do it when out of the blue came Akaishi's science club with Mr. Takenaka at the head of the group.

"What's going on here?" Takenaka demanded sternly. Iwamoto and Akaishi snapped to attention.

"Mr. Akaishi, there you are." Takai spoke as he pushed up his glasses. "The club's finished with all the moving of the gym equipment. Why are you slinking around over here?"

"That's what I would want to know." Mr. Takenaka crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

"Obviously these two can't even afford a hotel so they practice their little ecchi acts back he—"

"We were making sure the equipment was moved without any damage. And doing so, we caught Mr. Urameshi here breaking a school code of conduct." Iwamoto cut Yuusuke off.

Takenaka diverted his eyes to Yuusuke and shook his head in disapproval. "Urameshi, I must say that this is becoming very stressful" Iwamoto and Akaishi beamed with glee as Takenaka continued. "I already have enough on my plate with being the one to show the new industrial arts teacher around tomorrow, but now I have to worry about yo—"

"EEIIEE!" A sharp, spine-tingling shrill came from around the corner of the school and threw everyone off guard. Everyone's head snapped towards the direction of the scream.

"What was that?" a student in the science club whispered.

"That sounded like Yukimura-san!" Takai exclaimed.

"Where is she!" Yuusuke gripped Takai by his collar and threatened him if he didn't speak fast enough.

"Urameshi, that's enough." Takenaka began.

"She said she had to help Natsuko with one of the booths, I don't know where it is located though." Yuusuke slung Takai away from him and took off.

"Urameshi." Takenaka murmured to himself.

School Entrance gate-

"Eckah." Were the only words that escaped Keiko's mouth. She was being held by her throat and could barely receive enough air to stay conscious. She was on the verge of fainting at any given moment now. And her assailant, by no surprise, was the suspicious Akumada Kyoumi, with an already unconscious Kitajima Maya draped over her right shoulder. What has gotten into Kyoumi? Why was she going after Maya and Keiko? Did she know of the certain relationship specific people had between them? And why did she choose to torture both Kurama and Yuusuke? Was there someone else she was destined to go after as well after this?

Kyoumi felt something strike her in the back of her head. This caused her to come from off the booth she had been standing on and to come face to face with the one in question—Keiko still held by her neck.

"Let Keiko go!" Natsuko tried to keep a backbone as she stood up to the other girl. No one else seemed to have the courage to take on the intruder because they were too busy bunched up together mortified at the scene as they retreated into the school. She had thrown the huge fish she had been carrying at her and was now cowering before the older girl. Closer Kyoumi got, the more terrified Natsuko was. The blonde girl took her right hand from Keiko; her left being enough to still constrain her victim, and pointed it right at Natsuko's face. "Yikes!"

Yuusuke came to Natsuko's rescue, a fatal kick to Kyoumi's own throat was enough to make her drop Keiko and Maya on the spot and fly out to the other side of the booth. Yuusuke bent down to make sure Keiko was okay. 'Good she's still breathing.' The boy soon noticed Natsuko still frozen in her steps by fear. He shook her out of it by saying, "Natsuko, stay with Keiko and this other girl. Try and get them both into the school with everyone else. I'll get rid of this temee."

"H-Hai." Natsuko gasped and beginning to drag Keiko along the ground to the school first..

"Show yourself now! Kora!" Yuusuke called out to the female that went after his friend—not at all seeing who she was at the start. And when she did reveal herself by standing from behind the stand, Yuusuke regained that queasy feeling. It was her!

"No way..." Yuusuke released himself from his fighting stance as he stood bewildered. "You're my opponent! This can't be! It just can't!"

Kyoumi didn't say anything, she just smiled a devilish smile, acting as if she never even met Yuusuke. She pounced at him and began throwing punches as if this were her first time fighting in her life. Yuusuke dodged and ducked each one, already coming aware of all her moves.

"You thanked me for setting you free from that freak Seiiukaru. Why are you attacking me again! Are you possessed!" Yuusuke tried to get through to her. "I don't want to fight you, but if you push me, I'll—"

Kyoumi didn't take her mind off fighting to listen to Yuusuke, all of a sudden she kneed him right in the rib while he became to accustomed to her punching fury. Yuusuke gripped his stomach and Kyoumi took the advantage, she was about to knee him in the face now if it wasn't for him grabbing her knee and flipping her to the floor.

"I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself! Talk! Or are you Seiiukaru again! Speak to me through my mind then!" Yuusuke pinned her down to the ground. "Why are you going after Keiko? And that other girl? What are you doing!"

All of a sudden, Yuusuke felt a rubbery mass loop around his midriff and hurl him from off the sixteen-year-old girl. Once again he realized he had not made sure her hands were secure, but her hands never felt like rubber?

Yuusuke, being propelled in air and falling away from Kyoumi, he knew this wasn't turning out so good. "Fall faster!" He screamed in a rage. At any moment Kyoumi could go after anyone in the school, her main target most likely being Keiko. But something else more shockingly entered Yuusuke's vision. Kyoumi had her eyes fixated on Natsuko running back to bring the ebony-haired girl into the school. This was not going good at all.

Yuusuke finally hit the floor on his rear, being too late to stop Kyoumi from attacking the innocent girl. What could he do, how could he stop her? Kyoumi took off like a rocket as the twenty-seven inch sickle from before emerged from out of her wrist! So close she was to slicing Natsuko and the unconscious girl in half, if only Yuusuke had help!

"Rose Whip!" A thorny vine jutted through the stomach of Kyoumi and sent her flying into a huge oak tree at the far end of the school courtyard. She laid sprawled out with the vine still stuck in her.

Yuusuke looked behind him amazed to see Kurama leaping over the school's large, pewter fence. The redhead glanced over at Natsuko and nodded for her to continue with getting Maya inside the school. Natsuko was gone in a flash with Maya—she had enough heroism for one day.

"Didn't expect to see you so soon." Yuusuke got up from the ground and dusted himself off. "Was it really necessary to bring her down like that?" he asked a little worried.

"Don't show any remorse just yet. That's not the real Akumada Kyoumi." Kurama murmured.

"Nani? Huh, you know Kyoumi!" Yuusuke asked puzzled.

"I suggest we take her somewhere else, don't want to ruin your festival. Furthermore, I don't want my identity exposed." Kurama gripped his whip back. The vine began to wrap around its victim.

"What do you mean she's not the real Kyoumi!" Yuusuke interrogated but his words fell on tone-deaf ears. Kurama lashed his vine upward making Kyoumi look as if she were suspended in air like a kite. He jumped back over the school fence and called for Yuusuke to not lag behind as he dragged Kyoumi with him.

"Dammit. Always something, why do I have every obstacle always stopping me from talking to Keiko!" Yuusuke fumed as he followed Kurama's "kite", leaving some very confused onlookers from the school windows.

Vacant, abandoned lot ten blocks from the junior high school

"Okay Kurama, tell me, how do you know Kyoumi and how do you know this isn't her?" Yuusuke demanded, finally having caught up to his friend.

Kurama had "Kyoumi" all tied up on the ground with his rose whip attack. A mischievous smirk was glued on her face while she just glared up at both of the boys.

"Better yet, I'll show you." Kurama declared as he brought his whip up again. Kyoumi was brought into air as the vines began to constrict her even more. From the pressure exerted onto her, it looked as if her eyes would pop out and her body would burst—spewing her insides everywhere.

"Whoa man, are you sure that's a fake!" Yuusuke screamed with gawking eyes. It was too late, Kyoumi busted right open! Yuusuke looked away in disgust ready to heave chunks.

"It's quite all right Yuusuke, observe." Kurama said calmly.

Yuusuke peeped one eye open but soon shot both open when he witnessed the aftermath of the bound Kyoumi. There she was, well, it was, levitating in air, her whole upper section was burst open but there was no blood. In fact, from the parts of her that did bust open, it resembled small pieces of gel. Suddenly, the fake Kyoumi wriggled out of Kurama's rose whip as it fell to the floor. The impostor's body formed into a huge, crimson rubbery substance as the pieces that split away from the explosion formed back into it. The mass of ruby gelatin flopped to the ground and began to take shape again. The upper body of a bare, muscular bald man with gray skin appeared first. His eyes blended in with his skin and it was hard to see if the creature even had eyes. The lower body formed next, appearing to be that of a scarlet snake. The being snarled at both of his opponents. **UWIBAMI**

"I knew it." Kurama said to himself.

"Knew what?" Yuusuke asked confused.

"I was the one that rescued Kyoumi before she hit the ground. She recovered under my aid and due to some misunderstandings, she decided to leave and never return. This is one of the reasons why I knew this creature, Uwibami, couldn't be her." Kurama enlightened.

"And the other?" Yuusuke asked getting in a fighting stance.

"I sensed his ki lurking around Kyoumi ever since she came here. He followed her everywhere she went until the opportune moment. But this is just a pet, and whoever was controlling him wanted him to copy the entity of Seiiukaru and not Kyoumi. Too bad Uwibami's boss didn't know Seiiukaru was just possessing Kyoumi unlike what everyone else thought of Seiiukaru returning. But just who is controlling Uwibami?" Kurama sighed pensively.

"Think later, we need to stop that thing! He's trying to head back to my school!" Yuusuke jumped at Uwibami who was trying to escape. He grabbed hold of the serpent's right arm and swung him at the wall of one of the abandoned apartments in the lot. He splattered everywhere. "That was easy."

"Don't be too sure about that." Kurama pointed out. Uwibami quickly recollected himself and proceeded to attacking Yuusuke.

"Kuso. How. Do. I. Beat. Him!" Yuusuke said between breaths as he tried dodging the mad behavior of Uwibami. The serpent was doing practically anything to hit Yuusuke. His body kept disconnecting and reappearing in different spots aiming for Yuusuke. The Reikai Tantei did all he could to not get hit and even tried to return the favor, but each punch he delivered it just bounced off Uwibami's stretchy exterior.

Kurama stood pondering on the sidelines. He soon realized the strategy used to defeat demons like the Uwibami if you ever came face to face with them. "Yuusuke, the only way to defeat the Uwibami is to capture it in a Reikai Confinement Jar. Once concealed away, the Uwibami is disposed of when the creator of the Uwibami is destroyed."

"Oh great, just where can I buy one of those! I Dream of Oni Dot Com!" Yuusuke remarked very peeved.

And then, Yuusuke's angel in a pink kimono with pale blue hair answered his prayers. "More like I Dream of Botan!" she called jetting down towards her comrades on her oar. A clear pack that resembled a vacuum was strapped to her back with a long hose jutting from the top and wrapped around Botan's right arm. "Yuusuke, blast Uwibami this way with your rei gan!"

Yuusuke nodded and popped Uwibami right in the chest with all his might. This sent the demon hurling up in the air, an easy target for Yuusuke. "REI GAN!" he shouted his attack and shot it directly at Uwibami's abdomen. The serpent was heading straight for Botan. The ferrywoman twirled the hose in her hand and then pointed at the demon. She flipped on the switch on the head of the hose and the machine went haywire. A blinding light emerged from the hose and an enormous gust of wind rivaling a hurricane picked up. **REIKAI CONFINEMENT JAR**

Uwibami was now contained in the pack in his glob form. Botan prepared to land next to Kurama as Yuusuke ambled up to them.

"That was a no-brainer." Yuusuke remarked hotly. "So what are ya gonna do with jelly guy?"

"Nothing right now, he can't break out as long as he's stuck in here and the confinement jar has its own alternate dimension inside so you can trap as many Uwibami youkai as you want. They will only be destroyed when the one that created them is destroyed." Botan explained as she took the device from off her back and handed it to Yuusuke. "I believe you're going to be needing this device more often in the near future. Uwibami men can only be created by demon magic."

"Botan, do you know anything about who did this?" Kurama asked.

"And why did that thing go after Keiko and that girl?" Yuusuke grumbled, having to acquire yet another gadget from Reikai.

"Whoever is behind this attack they sure knew about Seiiukaru's soul being released and coming here. As for the whole capturing of the two girls, this enemy must know something about you two as well. Going as far as to rile you both up by hitting you where it hurts. I have a feeling Yasha knows something about this, that little spy. Oh, speaking of Yasha by the way." Botan looked at Yuusuke with her cheery smile. "Your appointment with her and the Yofune Nushi case's impending closure "

"Yeh, yeh. Just give me thirty minutes to get back to the school and tell Keiko I'll have to talk to her later." Yuusuke sighed. "I swear, the life of a Reikai Tantei and the life of a ningen can never be balanced, ah reckon, oh mah stars."

Botan giggled at Yuusuke's statement, though Kurama was a little puzzled not knowing who Yuusuke was affecting the accent from.

**Case three--- CLOSED**

Japanese / English: Awa odori / "fool's dance" performed during Bon holiday at Tokushima, "Odoru aho ni miru aho; onaji aho nara odoranya son son" / –chant heard when dancing

New name meanings: -Uwibami is a monstrous giant serpent from Japanese mythology which can fly in the sky, swoop down and swallow a man on horseback whole. The hero Yegara-no-Heida managed to kill it. In the story, the Uwibami are gel-like half men, half serpents.

Author's Note: notice anything different? Now I don't split the Japanese words up in their syllables now that you see how they should be pronounced right? I shall do that with every new Japanese word with the whole splitting it up in syllables in the first two chapters they appear. See how I love making things so difficult.

**Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator**


	9. Case Four: Meow! Look what the thunder d...

Narrator: Making it to Sarayashiki Junior High with time to spare, Yuusuke finds himself waiting for Keiko to finish helping the fellow students with the festival set-up. Yuusuke however doesn't care for aiding anyone when it comes to petty school functions. All goes amuck when Yuusuke hears Keiko screaming. He comes to her rescue just to come face to face with Kyoumi, the one and the same that was possessed by Seiiukaru! Kurama enters and informs Yuusuke that that Kyoumi is a fake. Kurama easily reveals its true form as Yuusuke pursues it. Botan enters with a new gadget for the Reikai Tantei, which easily takes care of the gel monster. But, mysteries still unfold as to whom created the monster and who is it that has been watching Yuusuke from the shadows.

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

**_Case Four_---Meow! Look what the thunder dragged in**

It was only noontime when Keiko finished her share of work for the festival and was already on her way home. Natsuko insisted that Keiko just go home and rest after being subjected to such trauma so early in the morning. She couldn't really recall what had happened to her. All she did remember was that Aitofukiji female student who suddenly attacked her from above as she help Natsuko with the fish she was carrying. After that, the chestnut-haired female remembered she had fallen unconscious one minute and soon was awakened the next by Yuusuke. He exhorted her as well to go home and rest as soon as she could and that he would like to have his little talk with her tonight at her families' mukae-bi. Atsuko was obviously off gallivanting as usual so Yuusuke thought it better to welcome his relatives with Keiko's family instead.

"Hm. It's going to rain?" Keiko halted her brisk pace by a immense, dead oak tree as she looked up to the sky, her navy skirt flapping against her legs from the sudden light gale of wind. 'It was sunny a minute ago. The clouds have become very dark now. Strange.' She thought to herself as she continued to jog down the sidewalk heading for home, not wanting to get caught in the downpour. As black, rugged clouds engulfed the once white, puffy ones, a bolt of lightning emerged from within in and thunder began to roar even before the rain came. Another lightning bolt came and struck the dead tree Keiko had been standing by previously-splitting it with a perfectly flawless clean cut. The bolt began to take shape into a small, pulsing ball of electricity as it rose from the debris, fixated on Keiko.

Yukimura Diner-

'It's really pouring out there. Oh no, the festival, everyone is still setting up, they'll have to postpone their progress until the rain stops.' Keiko closed the door behind her. The diner was barren since it was the Bon holidays, no business for the rest of the week. Keiko saw that her parents were sitting at one of the restaurant's booths and were eating lunch together.

"Back already? I thought you and your little band of helpers would be out working until five?" Mr. Yukimura asked his daughter as he slurped up so miso soup.

"Rain. But I had to leave earlier then expected. I'm just a little tired." Keiko said her sentence through a yawn.

"Oh yes, did you talk to Yuusuke?" Mrs. Yukimura said with a puckish grin, gnawing on a rice cracker.

"We've decided to talk tonight during mukae-bi. Is that okay if he joins us." Keiko urged a little hesitantly.

"Of course that will be okay." Mrs. Yukimura smiled.

"Arigatou. I'm just going to catch a quick nap, is it okay if you wake me up before five? I want to check on the progress with the festival. Hope the rain stops by then." Keiko bowed.

"Of course." Mrs. Yukimura's smile didn't falter.

Keiko headed for the staircase and began to ascend up them in a skip. Her parents returned to their meal in silence. "Poor Yuusuke. His mother being involved with Yakuza, never spending anytime with him." Mr. Yukimura whispered, surrendering to the silence again while the pitter-patter of rain knocked at the windows.

Keiko's room-

'Hm... Who was that _girl_ at our school who was also attacked by that weird girl, didn't look as if she went to our school at all. The other person with Yuusuke was with him when he tried to wake me up and then left afterwards-taking the girl away too. Wonder why they were all at our school... That weird girl did look like that lady I saw with Yuusuke... she couldn't have came looking for Yuusuke! No, don't jump to conclusions...' Keiko's mind began to wander as her eyelids grew heavy. She yawned a bit more and was done changing into her pajamas as she slid under her floral print covers. 'Yuusuke... maybe I am jumping to conclusions with a clouded mind." Thundering was heard outside as her room flashed from the lightning outside. 'He's trying so hard to explain himself. I should forgive him.' Keiko yawned one last time and let the sleep take her. Lightning and thunder boomed again but it wasn't enough to stir Keiko from her slumber, she had fallen out due to exhaustion.

The rain began to decrease in impact but the sky continued to grow darker. All of a sudden, a bright light came to Keiko's windowsill and began to tap at it. The ball of electricity was back! The luminescent milky white ball phased through the glass and now lit up Keiko's dim room. Even from the light Keiko didn't bustle from her position on her backside.

The energy floated over to the sleeping girl and hovered over her. For the longest it just levitated over her, completely stiff, that was until the thunder and lightning came crashing again. The ball of light seemed to become very frightened from the sudden outburst and shot under the covers with Keiko. It found itself directly over her stomach, covered by her pajama top. And in a blink of the eye, the ball of light turned into what looked like a mangy cat with patches of its yellow fur missing as if it were shaved off horribly. That kitten began to shiver from the roaring thunder and crawled over to the opening at the end of Keiko's top. Impossible. How could Keiko not feel the small kitten wander in under her shirt and rest directly on her navel? She must have been really tired.

The thunderstorm soon ceased as Keiko, and her little mysterious new pet, slept tranquilly.

Downtown Arcade center-

"Botan, what are we doing here? Have you become obsessed with that _Ms. Tac-Man_ video game as well?" Yuusuke said sarcastically.

"This is where we're meeting your _client_, silly." Botan grabbed Yuusuke by the wrist and led him in-she had changed into a long, dusty red skirt with a blue jean jacket over a white shirt just before her and Yuusuke left.

"Sure, you don't mind if I play a few while you meet with Yasha." Yuusuke joked. The arcade was pretty packed with people playing practically every game. There was even a line for each game of people waiting their turn. A thought popped into Yuusuke's head. "Botan, I don't think these people are going to take it lightly when they see a half human half bat creature in here!"

"Oh don't be silly, Yuusuke. We're meeting in the bathroom." Botan said jovial.

"Nani!"

Botan dragged the fourteen-year-old to the rest rooms located at the far left of the arcade. They were heading for the girl's lavatory.

"Oh, nice." Yuusuke grew a very perverted smile and said his sentence in a very sly tone.

"Oh stop it, Yuusuke. You aren't going to see anything I know you want to see." Botan scolded him as she came to a halt before the door. She rapped at it with the back of her hand, making a very catchy beat with it. The restroom door then opened by itself and the duo were sucked in. A man exiting the men's lavatory witnessed this and became a little shocked at the scene and ran away screaming.

"Where are we?" Yuusuke murmured looking around. Both of them were standing in a barren, bright room with its floor, ceiling, and walls lined with white cushions. A single door was installed on the ground in front of the two. "This sucks, how do the girl's use the bathroom? Unless they go on the floor." Yuusuke grew paranoid as he checked under his feet at the unstained cushions.

Botan giggled. "Yuusuke, we are in a different dimension, not the girl's bathroom. When you execute the right knock sequence on the door and it sends you here to the holding area for captured youkai criminals. Just so any ningens won't interrupt us. Sorry to disappoint you if you were expecting something else."

"So where's Yasha?" Yuusuke looked around the room, noticing there was no one else there but him and his spirit guide. "Oh I see..." Yuusuke said slyly, but Botan didn't catch on. "Sorry Botan, but I only think of you as a friend and nothing more."

"What's that suppose to mean!" Botan shrieked at him. All of a sudden, the door on the floor shot open and in came a little green oni with Yasha in a cage. Botan brushed off what Yuusuke had said and turned to the visitors, "Oh great, you've made it. Ohayo, Yasha!"

"Hey oar girl, Ah told yah, mah name tah you is-Bishonen!" Yasha shrieked and stuck to the bars of the cage like a magnet. She made the whole cage jerk forward, the little green oni tried to hold onto the cage.

"Bishonen? Me?" Yuusuke stood dumbfounded until he realized Yasha was directing it at him. "Uh..."

"Are you ready to cooperate?" Botan asked with one of her trademark smiles.

"Certainly." Yasha didn't take her eyes off of Yuusuke, Yuusuke however was feeling a little uneasy because of the unwanted attention. "What is it yer little ol' problem, darlin'?"

"Well, Yasha, we were-"

"Ah wasn't askin' you!" the bat-girl cut off the ferrywoman. "Yuusuke?" she said sweetly as Botan became a little irritated.

"Uh..." Yuusuke snapped to attention. "What's the deal on these gel men. One of them appeared earlier today and tried to kidnap two girls, one of them being very important to me."

When Yasha heard that part of Yuusuke's sentence she switched from hot to ice cold. "Oh... And?"

"Who's making them and why is this person going after specific people." Botan began to grind her teeth in annoyance.

"All ah learned about Uwibami long ago was that they are created by Musubi no Kami. He uses his gel pets to capture them putrid female loves of certain Reikai Tantei and youkai just to piss them off. He claims a man will do anything for their helpless love and that's how he cons men into his trap."

"But how did he know about me and Kurama?" Yuusuke said looking at Botan.

"And how did he know Seiiukaru was freed?" Botan looked at Yuusuke.

"And why did that thing copy Kyoumi in the first place!" Yuusuke and Botan said in unison as they stared at Yasha now.

"Oh yeh, that's right. That there Seiiukaru was released, everyone in Makai knows about that by now and the terrible sickness of the Shitenno! Haha. Pathetic. Don't you see, Kyoumi was tricked into releasing Seiiukaru. I witnessed it all when I was still in Makai. Her and that ravishing boy toy of hers were too busy walking into an ambush by the blasted underworld detective that did Kombu in. Kyoumi went into a world of depression as she tried tracking the detective down to get revenge, along the way becoming stronger. She soon came across the one who tricked her into heading for the mire sutra. _Shazmee_. The boss of Musubi."

Yuusuke and Botan remained silent as the little bat continued.

"He thought Seiiukaru would be released whole and not just her soul. So he ordered Musubi to send a Uwibami after 'er and copy Seiiukaru's life data. But it was Kyoumi's he received instead. He was obviously going to use Seiiukaru to destroy all of the Reikai Tantei, believing her powers would have been inside Kyoumi, but they weren't." Yasha yawned.

"But that doesn't explain why Uwibami went after Keiko and that other girl!" Yuusuke grew enraged.

"Shazmee's first priority is to destroy all the Reikai Tantei so his conquest over Ningenkai will be much easier. He used Keiko to draw you out and Kurama just interfered. He knows where to get yah where it hurts now." Yasha's expression was much more serious than usual.

"What are you talking about? Kurama is not an underworld detective!" Yuusuke fumed.

"I never said _he_ was." Yasha looked away peeved.

"Yasha, do you think you can find out if anymore Uwibami men are going to be created?" Botan asked.

"Uwibami men don't stand much of a chance in battle, they're just around as kidnappers and distracters. Shazmee must be planning something big that will wipe out all of the Reikai Tantei easily. Of course, I'm going to need a change of scenery. If you want me to do that for you it'll cost yah." Yasha began to eye Yuusuke.

"No deal." Yuusuke quickly said in his defense.

"Deal!" Botan spat out over Yuusuke's protest. "But first you have to tell us where Yofune Nushi is."

"Traitor. This isn't fair!" Yuusuke blasted at his spirit guide.

"I'll show you personally, but there is something Bishonen can do for me first." Yasha grinned evilly.

"No way! I told you I'm not into animal girls!" Yuusuke screamed.

Yasha chuckled, "One of my own clients that I do a lot of spy work for seems to have fallen into Shazmee's ploy. Shazmee wants her to join up with him because she can produce Raiju. But she refused, not wanting to be in on his evil scheme, so Shazmee sent an Uwibami after the first Raiju she ever created named _Gemmi_, her pride and joy. That was the cause of the thunderstorm earlier. They chased Gemmi all the way here and now he's hiding out for now in disguise."

"I can see where this is going." Yuusuke grumbled.

"A thunder animal wow, I can see why Shazmee would want her on his side. She has thunder animals at her disposal! That can make the situation quite deadly." Botan gasped.

"My client is distraught and I hate to see my number one client distraught. Gemmi takes on the form of different animals so it will be hard to find him but if you do, I will consider helping you out and relinquish my loyalty from the dark side... for the time being." Yasha said justly.

"A true spy." Yuusuke remarked. "She has no side."

"How do we know when we've found Gemmi?" Botan asked.

"Gemmi likes hopping from tree to tree, which leaves his mark on it. A thunderbolt scratch. He also is very frightened of thunderstorms but they constantly occur when he's around. The storms strike when ever Gemmi is in danger." Yasha informed them.

"Okay." Botan said zealously and turned to her partner. "Yuusuke we should get to work then!"

"Easy for you to say, you got nothing to lose." Yuusuke mumbled to himself as he glared at the bat demon gazing at him affectionately.

Yukimura Diner; 4:45p.m-

"Keiko it's time to wake up." Mr. Yukimura tapped at his daughter's door. No answer came from inside, not even a 'thump' of his daughter's feet moving over the floor. "Keiko, come on, five hours is enough. You can't sleep all day, just what did you do to make you so-" Mr. Yukimura called to her as he opened the door. His eyes bulged at what he saw. "-tired... AH!"

Keiko was still asleep but began to rustle a bit from her father's screams. Her eyes opened slowly to see her dad yelling. "T-Tousan? What is it?" she sat up a bit on her elbows.

"My daughter is pregnant!" He shouted having his paranoia cloud his mind..

"What are you talking about!" Keiko demanded not quite catching on or even feeling the little scamp up her shirt.

"It was little Yuusuke, right! This is what you two needed to talk about! I respect little Yuusuke but you two could've left your hormones caged up for a few more years, right! I don't want to be a grandfather so soon!" Mr. Yukimura went into a fit as Mrs. Yukimura came booming up the stairs to see what was going on.

"What in the Sam hill-Keiko! Your stomach!" Mrs. Yukimura brought her hands to her cheeks in shock.

Keiko finally peered down at her belly to see the bulge sticking out. Now it was her turn to scream with widened eyes. Mrs. Yukimura bolted over to her daughter and lifted up her shirt a little too far. Mr. Yukimura had to turn away just so he would be respecting his daughters "privacy" since her top was up to her neck now.

"Neko!" Mrs. Yukimura and Keiko chimed together in harmony.

"Oie! Can we keep it!" Mr. Yukimura squealed.

The yellow kitten leaped up from its sleep right between Keiko's chest, its front paws on her shoulders while its hind legs were under her bosoms.

"ECCHI!" Keiko screamed and jumped around, causing her mom to let go of her shirt and making it fall back down to its previous position with the cat inside again. Keiko soon knocked the cat from out of her top and was now sitting on the floor panting for air.

"Keiko, are you sneaky pets in now?" Mrs. Yukimura looked down at her daughter very cross.

"Iie, I never saw it before." Keiko pleaded.

"Can we keep it! We can call it "Yuu-chan"!" Mr. Yukimura begged as his wife glared at him with narrow eyes.

The putrefied feline hopped up to Keiko's side and nuzzled her hip. The cat's antics caused its tail to brush up by the desk Keiko was sitting by and then the kitten's tiny thighs hit the frame of the desk. The clock that sat on the top wobbled and fell over to reveal the time to the young girl. It was only ten minutes to five!

Keiko glanced at the clock then at her window. The sun was shining! "Oh no, I'm going to be late!" she screamed jumping from the floor, snatching her uniform from the closet, and then running out of the room. The cat went after her.

Mrs. Yukimura and Mr. Yukimura shared concerned looks with each other. "Now what was that about Keiko being pregnant." Mrs. Yukimura sighed but then started to laugh at her husband's mistake.

The husband's head titled as he whined. "Anyone could've came to that assumption." He soon became very happy about the cat again. "Can we name it "Yuusuke Chibi" then!"

Around the corner of the Yukimura Diner-

'Yuusuke said he would meet me at the school at five, I can't be late. Maybe if I told my parents that they would've woken me up earlier. Why did I sleep that long? It isn't like me to stay asleep that long...' Keiko thought, fixing the collar her school uniform.

"Rew!" a strange sound broke through Keiko's thoughts, she turned around sharply to see the cat was following her. She bent down to let the kitty jump into her arms before she stood back up.

"My, my. You look very ragged, nyako... But you are really loving." Keiko stroked the feline's head. "And just what were you doing up my shirt? Hmm? You are as bad as Yuusuke." She giggled as the cat burrowed into her grasp and snuggled up to her. Keiko began to jog on her way. "Well, you are way more affectionate than Yuusuke."

Keiko rounded the corner. "I should give you a name if I decide to keep you. I don't want to make it too obvious like Tousan did. Heh, Yuu-chan... Doesn't fit you at all." Keiko stopped to hold the cat up from under its arms. "Very mysterious you are... So strange for a cat... and a good little infiltrator for sneaking into my room... I'll just call you _Nanashi_ for now." She smiled at the cat as it purred. "You like Nanashi? Eh?"

But instead of Keiko receiving an agreement from her "new" pet, the cat went crazy as it struggled out of the teenager's grasp. It flopped to the ground and hunched up by Keiko as it hissed in every direction while its fur stood on end.

"Okay, you don't like Nanashi?" Keiko said puzzled at the cat's behavior. All of a sudden she saw what the cat was so offended by when she stared ahead of her. There it was, a half man half snake creature slithering toward the two! Uwibami was back! "AIEE!"

Sarayashiki Junior High-

Yuusuke was leaning on the gate of the school as students that volunteered to help out with the festival setup were calling it a day and heading home. They had gotten a lot of work done in the short time they had due to the rain. Natsuko was the last to leave as she waved good bye to Yuusuke.

"Egh, Keiko where are you? I should have just went to her house to get her." Yuusuke complained.

"Don't worry, Yuusuke, you'll be able to talk to her soon enough with no interruptions." Botan said sitting on top of the school gate in the Sarayashiki school uniform.

"Why are you still hanging around, don't you have business to do, like finding that Gemmi thing." Yuusuke grumbled at his spirit guide.

"I don't mean to pry-"

"Then don't." Yuusuke groaned.

"-I'm just here to give you support. Keiko is running unusually late. I should go look into it." Botan said worriedly and looked up at the sky. Her eyes shot open wider as her mouth gaped open. "The sky! The clouds are darkening and it's starting to thunder."

Yuusuke looked up to the sky in an instant to see lightning start to clash everywhere. "Kuso! An Uwibami must be attacking!"

"Gemmi is going to get frightened by the thundering like Yasha said and run away! We need to find him now! Look where all the thundering and lightning is transpiring! It must be over there!"

"This is not good! That's where Keiko lives! Why is there always something happening with her! Ugh! Botan, get to my house and find that stupid confinement jar thing! I left it there!" Yuusuke ordered as he took off as fast as the lightning in the sky.

"Smooth move Yuusuke!" Botan shouted very vexed with her oar popping up in her hand. She hopped on it and took off into the thunderstormy weather.

Back with Keiko and "Nanashi"-

"What do you want! EEE!" Keiko jumped to the side of the Uwibami and hit the floor. She quickly turned on her side and tried sliding back on her rump away from her attacker. "Why is this always happening to me!"

Uwibami twisted around and curled up. He then sprung from his position like a rubberband and had his claws out ready to claw at Keiko.

"AIEE!" She screamed for help and brought her hands up around her because of reflexes. And to her rescue didn't come Yuusuke for once, but her feline friend. The cat had vaulted from the ground with lightning emitting from its paws-literally. It used it's nails to claw into Uwibami's chest and send him falling back away from the fallen girl. But this was a big mistake. Uwibami rolled over and compressed the cat under his form. It then molded into it's globby form and was suffocating the creature.

"IIE! Nanashi!" Keiko got on all fours and pushed herself up and was about to fight the creature from off the cat until Yuusuke made the scene.

The delinquent kicked the blob of red into the bushes near the sidewalk, Nanashi going with it. Yuusuke knew it wasn't over so he remained slouched ready for trouble, except Keiko brought him out of his pose with a slap.

"OW! What did ya do that for!" He shouted at her.

"You kicked Nanashi too!" Keiko shouted back.

"N-Nanashi?" Yuusuke became puzzled. All of a sudden, out of the bushes came the scruffy cat, or so Keiko thought.

"Oh Nanashi, you're okay!" Keiko ran to it and picked it up. She began to pet its back as it cuddled its head into Keiko's bosom.

"Eck, stupid cat." Yuusuke spied at the feline jealously. His eyes soon realized the cat's eyes were fixated on him as they winked in his direction. The cat motioned down to his free paw, which had its claws turning into red knives. Yuusuke was shocked to find out what the cat really was. "Get away from the cat!" Yuusuke swatted right at the impostor's head and it was hurled further than expected down the road.

"Yuusuke what has gotten into you!" Keiko pushed him aside in the arm and was about to run after the cat at once until Yuusuke gripped her upper right arm. "Yuusuke, stop!"

"Keiko! Look..." Yuusuke grabbed her by both of her shoulders and turned her to where he threw the cat. It began to move about as if something was trying to come out of its flesh. And sure enough, its backside spread open as Uwibami was back for more.

"AH!" Keiko covered her eyes as soon as she saw the cat she thought was hers burst open. "Poor Nanashi!"

"SKS REW!" the real Nanashi jumped from out of the bushes and tried warding off Uwibami, giving Yuusuke and Keiko the chance to get away.

"Come on Keiko, there's nothing we can do right now! Let's go!" Yuusuke pulled on his friend's arm but she refused to move. "Keiko! Move it! I'm sure your cat can take care of himself, what's matters is your safety, he's after you for some reason not the cat, lets go!" Keiko nodded and went with Yuusuke, but only to the next corner where Yuusuke would have to leave her.

"Yuusuke, what are you doing?" Keiko asked fretful when she saw the boy checking around the corner.

"Gonna stall why you get away." Yuusuke said calmly.

"Yuusuke, no!" Keiko grabbed his left shoulder with both of her hands.

"Criminy, Keiko, you'll be safer this way. I want you to head to the school and wait for me there. Got it! Don't get all touchy with me, just go!" Yuusuke tried saying it harshly so he wouldn't show his emotions. Keiko understood why he was acting this way so she did as she was told and took off down the street. Yuusuke sighed in relief. 'Gomen, Keiko.'

"REW!" Nanashi cried as Uwibami flipped him in the air. The cat looked more tattered than before because he was tangling with a brutal beast much bigger than him. All Yuusuke could do was hold him off until Botan came with the "miracle" he was waiting for.

"Dammit, Botan, get your ass down here!" Yuusuke gritted his teeth and cracked his knuckles ready to show Uwibami a world of black and blue. Fortunately, he didn't have to.

"I heard that Yuusuke! Let's see how fast you find something when its buried under piles of dirty clothes and dishes! An appalling mess indeed! Don't you know you are SUPPOSE to clean your house until it is spotless during Bon week!" Botan had the Reikai Confinement Jar strapped up and aimed it right at Uwibami. She flew her oar close enough to the demon just before she turned on the vacuum and sucked him in. The battle was over.

"Phew. Two demons confined in one day. This is getting very hectic." Yuusuke wiped his forehead from the sweat he worked up from the "fight".

"We need to find that Musubi quick. I don't want to make this into an everyday thing." Botan twirled the hose around on her fingers. She lost her focus when it fell to the floor because she just realized something. "Oh my, Gemmi! Where is he?"

Yuusuke smacked his forehead, "Guess he got frightened. We'll have to look for him then. But first I need to talk to Keiko, FINALLY!" Yuusuke began to walk off.

"But Yuusuke-" Botan began to protest but Yuusuke stopped her.

"Do whatever you do in your spare time, geez, start the search even. Ja ne, Botan!" He called behind him without turning around.

Botan sighed. Well, she could start the search for Gemmi instead of taking it easy but she soon noticed she might not have to as she looked at the trees going down the sidewalk in a row. She looked behind her at the other trees but they didn't have the same, specific thing the other ones had. Gemmi was here indeed, and she knew exactly where he went from the lightning marks on each tree ahead of her. "He's following Keiko..."

**Case four--- CLOSED**

Japanese / English: Yakuza / Japanese organized crime, nyako / kitty cat, Nanashi / no name

New name meanings: -Raiju is a Japanese demon whose name means "thunder animal". Its element is lightning and comes in the form of a cat, badger, or weasel. During thunderstorms, this demon becomes very aggravated and annoyed so it leaps from tree to tree leaving marks of lightning with its claws. Raiju likes hiding in human navels so it is said that if you are afraid, you should sleep on you belly during thunderstorms. In the story, this is Gemmi's class of demon instead of just being an oni child. He turns into a cat and befriends Keiko who calls him Nanashi.

Musubi no Kami is the Japanese God of love and marriage. He lives within a sacred cherry tree, a Kanzakura, and is a very handsome young man. He offers boughs of cherry blossoms, promising love in the future for certain people. In the story, he creates the Uwibami and he is the main villain's right hand man, erm, demon. He has strong psychic powers and controls Sakura trees.

Shazmee is unknown at the moment but we do know that he is the main villain of the series as of now. 'Shazmee' doesn't mean anything, just the author's muse.

Author's Note: No side comments for this chapter except, PLEASE REVIEW TO MAKE THIS FOOLISH AUTHOR UPDATE MORE OFTEN!111!11oneone!elevenone!111 I command you! You are in my power! If you don't I shall shun you! shun shun shun!

Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator


	10. Case Five: Mechanical HeartI'm in love w...

Narrator: Keiko, being exhausted from the attack she experienced earlier, is sent home to take a load off. She insists a quick nap will do her some good, but her quick nap is more like a five hour snooze. Unable to awaken to even the slightest crashes of thunder howling outside during a storm, Keiko doesn't realize she has a little visitor at her windowsill. Yuusuke however, doesn't get to take even a thirty minute rest as he meets with the intriguing Yasha and learns some valuable information. Now with a new mission as a favor for Yasha, Yuusuke is out to save a thunder demon in disguise from a new threat, the sinister Shazmee.

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

**_Case Five_---Mechanical heart! I'm in love with Ms. Nanashi**

Yuusuke sat with Keiko on the deck at a family shrine in the moonlight. All of her relatives were moseying around conversing with other relatives they haven't seen since last Obon. Keiko's father and mother both got to lit the bonfire that symbolized the guidance of the souls of Keiko's deceased lineage back to visit. Yuusuke was the only one who wasn't related to Keiko at the function.

Both of them sat in their own yukata-Keiko wearing a fancy, pale yellow one with cartoon fireflies on it while Yuusuke wore a ordinary, dark red one with cartoon ghosts printed on it. Yuusuke seemed very bored as he glanced around the area. Keiko, on the other hand, was munching on rice crackers as she turned to Yuusuke. She didn't say anything despite the fact that she gazed at him intently. A lot of things ran through her mind about her childhood friend-he protected her whenever he could and she accused him of something she knew in her heart of hearts he would never do. He may have acted like a ruffian but he wasn't totally out of control. Keiko admired the way he handled his emotions, it was easy for him to hide them from the world, but sometimes he would let them slip out; those times were the ones Keiko really adored witnessing.

"Are ya gonna eat that or what?" Yuusuke mumbled and stared at her.

Keiko realized she had just let her rice cracker hang from her bottom lip as she gawked at Yuusuke. She hurriedly plopped it into her mouth and placed her hands in her lap as she rested her eyes on them.

"It's rude to stare ya know." Yuusuke also said, but his stare became soft.

"Yuusuke, gomen-nasai." Keiko's eyes were hidden due to her mahogany bangs.

"I was just kidding." Yuusuke said sounding hurt that Keiko would take his insinuations seriously. "You can stare at me all you like." He joked.

"No... it's not that." Keiko's head lowered even more.

"You mean you don't like staring at me? I thought what we had was special!" Yuusuke yammered childishly and caught the attention of a few of Keiko's cousins who passed by to greet the grandparents.

"Yuusuke!" Keiko turned her head to him in an instant and waited for her cousins to move on so they were out of hearing range. "It isn't that subject I'm sorry about. I'm sorry I didn't respect you, instead I just blatantly assumed the obvious without knowing the full story. I didn't even give you a chance to speak out in your defense. I acted completely like a..." Keiko's statement trailed off.

"Baka?" Yuusuke finished for her with a twisted grin on his face.

"You know, you aren't making it any easier." Keiko shot daggers for eyes at Yuusuke. "So tell me, right now, what happened... My eyes saw what they saw and I went by it, so just tell me now... were my eyes deceiving me or were they accurate..." she said very melancholy as if she already knew the answer.

"Keiko... why don't we just forget about it..." Yuusuke suggested in a dignified way.

"Huh?" Keiko gasped with wide eyes as she gazed back at her childhood friend.

"Why don't you tell me, what do you believe? Your eyes, or a close friend?" Yuusuke muttered the sentence as if he were being back-stabbed by his childhood friend.

"Yuusuke, I-" Keiko was about to say if it wasn't for the sudden appearance of a familiar feline.

"Rew!" It mewed and flopped into Keiko's lap.

"Nanashi, konnichi wa!" Keiko shrieked joyously and hugged the mangy animal.

"Sure that thing has had its shots?" Yuusuke grumbled at the attention the cat was getting from Keiko.

"Don't be jealous, Yuusuke." Keiko giggled and began to pet his head while at the same time she petted Nanashi's. "See, I can treat you the same."

"The hugs too." Yuusuke hinted cunningly.

"Hey you married couple, come over and participate in the dancing." Mr. Yukimura joked as he walked arm-in-arm with Mrs. Yukimura over to Yuusuke and Keiko still sitting on the shrine's veranda.

"No thanks, I'll just watch." Yuusuke sighed. "I don't dance."

"Nonsense, everyone dances!" Mrs. Yukimura laughed as she grabbed Yuusuke by the arm and wrapped it around her vacant one.

"M-Mrs. Yukimura, matte!" Yuusuke begged her to let him not dance.

"Keiko, please calm your "husband"." Mrs. Yukimura winked at her daughter.

Keiko giggled at what her mom said and meant. She got up from the porch and walked over to Yuusuke, Nanashi had leaped onto the girl's shoulder before she left, now enjoying a free ride.

"Tell them Keiko, I don't dan-huh?" Yuusuke began pleading to her but soon cut himself off when he saw Keiko slip her arm into Yuusuke's vacant one. He began to blush while Keiko looked up at him with an adorable smile.

"We can always show you how..." Keiko said in a menacing way as her and her parents pretended to laugh maniacally. Yuusuke sighed, surrendering to his childhood friend. The four of them walked towards the bonfire, arm-in-arm, Keiko placing her unoccupied hand onto Yuusuke's upper arm, he tried to hide a smile.

Second day of Obon, 9:30a.m.-

"It's quite a shame you won't be able to get to know the students until next week when class is back in session. Most of the students here are very well-mannered and respectful, others are, well, a hand full." Mr. Takenaka informed the new industrial arts teacher as they stood at a wide window in the empty hallway. "I believe you will be a great asset to this school, even though this is your first time teaching am I correct, Ms. Nanashi?"

The female teacher, around the age of twenty-three at least, kept her deep brown eyes fixated on the world outside the window. She was stunning indeed. Her graceful, milk chocolate locks went to her shoulders and curled at the ends in heaps. You couldn't even tell, or consider her as a teacher because of the attire she chose to wear. Aside from it being a sort of white, one piece suit, it was a rather form-fitting white, one piece suit. The bottom of her dress stopped a few, or more, inches above her knees revealing her sleek, gentle legs as if crafted by the supreme King Enma himself. It was amazing Takenaka didn't falter to her features.

"It is." She said, her tone both peaceful and seductive. She brought the clipboard she had full of papers behind her back and looked up at Takenaka innocently, not noticing her chest popped up at him from the way she stood.

Takenaka cleared his throat and diverted his attention out of the window. "An industrial arts program will be very shocking to the students since it will be added to the new curriculum after Obon, more so, seeing a teacher like yourself instructing it will be even more of a surprise I'm sure. How does it feel?"

"Exciting... I guess." She whispered pressing both her right hand up to the window while her left rested the clipboard on the sill. She stared down at all the booths almost finished and some of the early-bird students coming in to get to work.

"Amazing, isn't it. How much the students can care." Takenaka joined the breath-taking teacher at the window and looked out. "They've been working their hardest on this festival, it excites them too. They come in so early just to get it ready for tonight."

"So it's tonight?" Ms. Nanashi kept her eyes focused below. "So they come and go when they please?"

"Well it is voluntary. Some students do come to just slack around and watch the construction but that is just a choice few. Haven't you ever worked on a festival in school?" Takenaka informed her but soon looked at his watch. "Come this way to the lounge, you can meet the faculty. We are already planning for the new curriculum that will be in effect after Obon."

Ms. Nanashi followed him, but still kept her eyes dazing out the window, dazing at Keiko, and the cat that followed her to the school.

On the school roof-

Most of the male students were hanging out up on the school roof looking at all the determined female students below as they worked so hard on the festival setup.

"Me, Oda, and Subichi went up to the graves and scared the shit out of some of the families up there." The boy from before stated, actually doing what he had said the other day. He took a puff on a cigarette and passed it to another male student.

"I heard about that, bakayaro. You guys are such shitheads." The boy said, puffing the cigarette and passing it to yet another male.

"I was there! You practically scared me to death!" the next boy screamed at the other. "Oh guess what, I heard Kuwabara got his ass kicked by some Kasane scum a day ago, he's now in the hospital, the intensive care ward even! We should teach them a lesson."

"Yeh, and then we will be laying up in the infirmary to. Just smoke the damn thing and pass it on." Another boy said waiting for his turn.

Sawamura, Kirishima, and Okubo were leaning over on the fence of the roof at the far corner. They were obviously disgusted about the gossip that was spreading.

"Why does everyone believe it was Kasanegafuchi students that went after Kuwabara-sama?" Okubo groaned in annoyance.

"At least it won't take away from kaichou's honor. No one knows about it being that damn Aitofukiji girl so it is sort of okay. She fights pretty good." The blonde folded his arms behind his head as he admired his leader's opponent.

"But the intensive care ward? Get real." Sawamura punched the fence. "Kuwabara's getting out today, none of his injuries were fatal at all. He's coming to the festival I know that."

"I heard Kasane punks are gonna crash it. All that work the girl's are doing, we should crash theirs." Kirishima fumed.

"They don't have one, can't afford it for their school. But we should make sure they don't wreck ours at least." Okubo announced.

"Hai... oh hey, have you heard about the new shit the principal and the board are trying to make us do. Industrial arts, man." Kirishima shook his head in disapproval.

"We should make the new teacher's stay at Sarayashiki a living hell. RIGHT GUYS?" Sawamura shouted to the rest of the guys on the roof.

"Aye Aye!" They cheered in agreement, causing so much noise that the girls below all were distracted from their work and soon shouted up to the guys a friendly, "BE QUIET!"

"Hey, Okubo, where ya goin'?" Kirishima asked when he noticed Okubo heading for the door of the roof.

"Bathroom." He told him.

"Oh okay, don't stay in there all day." Kirishima mocked as he got back to the conversation with all the other guys about what they should do first to the new teacher.

Teacher's lounge-

"Faculty, please welcome Ms. Nanashi, head of the Industrial arts department." Takenaka announced as Ms. Nanashi stepped from behind him to get a good look at the rest of her co-workers. Mr. Takenaka introduced her to them individually as she bowed her respect to them.

"My, my. She is a rather rare catch." Akaishi admired shrewdly at the outside of the circle around the new, ravishing teacher.

"Hard to believe 'Ms.' accompanies her surname." Iwamoto commented being his turn to greet her. "Good morning to you, glad to have you here, my name is Iwamoto. if there is anything, ANYTHING, at all that you need help with-rowdy students needing discipline, someone to join you at lunch, someone to give you a tour around the town-just tell me." He brought out his hand.

"Arigatou, but I think I can manage." Ms. Nanashi reached for his hand but soon noticed that her own had been snatched away by the smaller teacher at his side.

"Hello, I am Akaishi, head of the science department. I to am here to help you. My, your hand is very soft. Tell me, I bet your first name is just as marvelous as your last." The bucktoothed teacher tried to say in a tone just as alluring as the female teacher's.

"It's Nanashi." She said, confusing the faculty.

"Oh I see. Very creative, you don't mind if I call you Nanashi then?" Akaishi chuckled.

"Go ahead, I guess." Ms. Nanashi had a sweat drop roll down her brow.

Akaishi continued, "And you won't mind if I take you out on the town tonight eith-"

Iwamoto interrupted him, now imitating an enticing voice too. "My dear Nanashi, let me enlighten you about the students you might want to stay away from, over dinner."

"I think that's quite enough." Takenaka saved her from the undesired concentration on her.

"Oh dear, I left my clipboard out in the hall." Nanashi finally realized what she had forgotten.

"Allow me to get it-"Akaishi began.

"I shall retrieve it for you!" Iwamoto and Akaishi began pushing each other back and forth to stay in the limelight.

"That's okay, I'll be right back." Nanashi insisted as she quickly ran out of the room.

"Ahem. That was a pleasant encounter." Takenaka crossed his arms and glared at Iwamoto and Akaishi.

Both Iwamoto and Akaishi looked away from each other peeved, knowing only one of THEM would win the new teacher's heart. The other female teachers in the room felt rather offended from the new, fresh meat accepted into the faculty.

Three of the very middle-aged women in the room broke off into their own group and began chatting.

"There is no way she's had children." One of them said.

"She looks too young, like she should still be a student herself." Another said.

"Ugh! She's stealing the heart of my AKAISHI!" another whispered enraged. The two other women looked at their friend puzzled as to why she was in love with the vile Akaishi anyway.

Down the hall from the teacher's lounge-

'Eck, thank Reikai I'm out of there, what was with all those male teachers acting that way towards me? Is this how ningen tutors act when they meet someone new?' Ms. Nanashi thought to herself, not slowing down her quick haste. She was too far lost in thought, and going way to fast that when she rounded the corner she couldn't stop herself from colliding with the heavyset student, Okubo.

Okubo had hit the floor on his rear and was keeping himself up with his elbows. He couldn't help but blush when he noticed what had happened, AND what a predicament he had ended up in with the new Industrial Arts teacher. Ms. Nanashi was sprawled out on top of him, her right hand trying to hold her up by being placed strategically in the space between his left arm while her other hand, not so strategically placed, was clutched over Okubo's member! Both of them were frozen in place, unable to bring themselves to move, both with cheeks glowing bright red.

Ms. Nanashi was the one who quickly stood from the ground after being petrified for at least three minutes. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have been running like that. I wasn't watching where I was going. This isn't even my first day yet and I already harassed a student. My name is Nanashi Nanashi and I'm so sorry for the impact I directed onto you! What kind of Industrial Arts teacher am I? I should be caressing the fine alloy of my work instead of young boys. Terribly sorry." She said in a heartbeat as she slid around Okubo who still laid motionless on the floor. "Nice meeting you by the way!" she called behind her as she ran off down the hall.

Okubo managed to turn his head slightly around to see that teacher, that goddess, he had just encounter run into the light of the morning sun. To him, she looked simply heavenly as her hair flocked behind her and her dress swayed up each step she took. 'That... That angel!'

School roof-

"Okay so it's agreed we will all show up late and then switch _his_ lunch with fly maggots and roaches! We'll also put tacks in his chair and pretend it is English class. Then we'll set his clothes on fire, by accident of course, with the blow torch, and then-"

"MINNA!" Okubo came rushing through the roof's entrance, the door almost slamming off its hinges.

"Okubo, you're just in time, Eichida was just explaining the plan we have set up for the new teacher." Kirishima guffawed at the thought.

"Okubo, your nose is bleeding." Sawamura pointed out.

"That's not all that's "filled" with blood right now." One of the guys laughed and pointed at Okubo's pants to reveal he was experiencing an erection.

"Geez, Okubo, there are girls present..." Kirishima acknowledged.

"Yeh, Takai!" a guy with hacked, blonde hair teased.

"Hey guys! Lets try and be civilized." Takai stuck up for himself as he pushed up his glasses.

Okubo had his hands covering his manhood as he shouted at the rest of the guys. "Stop horsing around! I just met the Industrial Arts teacher!"

"Great! We get to see how much of a pathetic, old fart he is." Another boy in the group shouted as the rest of them agreed.

"Is that what excited you?" Kirishima teased as many of the boys began to laugh.

"Shut up! It will surprise you to know that if you were in the same predicament I was in, you would have had a nosebleed to!" Okubo declared.

"So... he's a young guy? Okubo, are you coming out-" Sawamura began.

"Baka! He was a SHE! A hot she! BIJIN! A goddess of metal! I ran into her, literally, and we found ourselves on top of each other! ON TOP! Better yet, she touched me... THERE! For three minutes! You fools, you just don't understand! You just don't know how extravagant she was! How beautiful she was! All those curves on her, and her chest right in my face! IPPAI OPPAI! You just don't know! Nanashi Nanashi! Nanashi Nanashi!" Okubo hugged himself and went off into his own fantasy. He was soon snapped out of it when he noticed all the glares he was getting from the guys.

"You lucky bastard!" they all said at once, each one having a different, naughty picture of Okubo and the new Industrial Arts teacher in altered situations. All of a sudden, random male students were hunched over Okubo three by three asking questions. "How _big _is her bust!" "She can't be seriously that hot..." "You freak, you totally DID IT in the hall!" "Oh my crod, Okubo you Casa nova!" "You are my idol!" "I envy you!"

"HEY! Why are we standing up here! Let's find her for ourselves!" Takai declared.

"Oh my crod! Takai is right for once!" Sawamura agreed. "LET'S GO!"

The group of boys stampeded over Okubo and descended down the hall, well, they tried to at least since they were all shoving themselves through the door. As they departed, Okubo was still left, rolling around on the floor from the "pleasure" he experienced from meeting the "love of his life".

Industrial Arts classroom-

Ms. Nanashi slumped in the chair of her desk and raked her fingers through her chestnut hair. The room was wide and worktables with numerous tools laying on them filled up most of the space. 'So, I'm going to be a teacher...for how long? When I find Gemmi? Do I just quit? But I want to learn more about Ningenkai, I must stay longer... But what if Shazmee finds me and figures out my true identity... At least it's quiet in here, I'm not in that hectic faculty room with all those heart-throbbing maniacs-huh?' Ms. Nanashi brought her head up when she felt the floor beneath her beginning to rumble. She suddenly heard a scream that signaled her instinct that someone, or some gang, was coming, looking for her. "Is it the Uwibami...?" she was prepared for the worst as she clenched her fists.

"The Art department is right here! I found it! Oh crap! OW! Don't walk on me!" a boy's voice came from outside. All of a sudden, Ms. Nanashi found her tranquil silence being interrupted as eighty or so male students burst into her classroom. Ms Nanashi was well over startled to see so many boys crowd her room, all shouting things she couldn't understand since they all said it at different, and the same, times.

"Oh... my..." Ms. Nanashi gasped leaning back in her chair as more boys piled into her room one after the other, most of them were all over her desk and invading her personal space. A sweat drop appeared over her head as they spoke.

"Oh my crod, you are so hot, will you go out with me!" a boy shouted, twelve inches from her face at least.

Another student pushed him aside, "Why would she want you when she can have me!"

Another pushed that one out of the way, "Wrong! She's going to marry me, duh!"

"Can I touch your hair, it looks really well taken care of." Takai said bedazzled.

"CHI CHI!" One of the boys screamed rudely.

"KUSO! Okubo is a lucky bastard!" Sawamura banged his fists on the desk.

Kirishima sat on top of his friend's back and leaned over towards Ms. Nanashi, "You know, we can find a lovely quiet place to be, just you and me. I can make you forget all about being a teacher, that's for sure. Nanpa, nanpa... Here, you felt Okubo's you should test me out too."

"Cut it out! She doesn't want you!" one of the boys began strangling Kirishima.

Ms. Nanashi's eyebrow began to twitch uncontrollably, she was either about to break down and cry or just burst a vein. But she didn't have to, she found out that the group of teachers came to her rescue in the nick of time.

"What the hell is going on here!" Iwamoto had his own vein in his forehead ready to pop.

"Get away from Ms. Nanashi this instant." Akaishi ordered.

"My word, what has gotten into all of you boys." One of the female teachers demanded. Okubo finally joined the faculty at the door as the group of boys that couldn't control their hormones calmed down and stood away from Ms. Nanashi's desk-the boy choking Kirishima finally stopped..

"Ms. Nanashi, is everything quite all right?" Mr. Takenaka asked her concerned.

Ms. Nanashi sat dazed trying to get her head straight. She almost fainted from the onslaught of words that had filled the room earlier. She finally found her voice and stuttered, "O-h-yes-ind-eed..."

Noon, Yuusuke's house-

The Reikai Tantei was fast asleep, snuggled deep down in his futon. He was totally exhausted from being out with Keiko and her family last night. Being the center of attention and the pity by all of his friend's relatives because of the fact that his mother didn't even get together with her own family during Obon-it was amazing she had enough disrespect to just go out and party and leave Yuusuke off by himself. Yuusuke didn't mind, she wasn't the best mom, nor did she act like one, at times, Yuusuke felt that he lived alone.

The fourteen-year-old knew he didn't need to get up until five. He had promised Keiko before he left for home last night that he would come to the school's festival-deep down he really didn't want to go. He knew someone would snicker behind his back about his yukata, and he really didn't feel like kicking someone's tail when he tried to enjoy himself. But most of all, he didn't want to deal with Akaishi or Iwamoto since they would be there just to keep everyone in check. But it was for Keiko, and Yuusuke still never got her answer to the question he asked her on the deck of that shrine.

Yuusuke yawned.

Sarayashiki Junior High, court yard-

"Well we're almost finished. Couldn't have done it with out you girls!" Natsuko pretended to cry tears of joy.

"Yeh, no thanks to the boys, that's for sure." A girl with long brown hair in a ponytail piped in.

Keiko sat under a huge tree that was just a little bit outlawed from all the booths surrounding it with four other girls. Most of the other girls that helped out with the festival were either eating under another tree or had gone home for lunch. They were all eating out of their own bento after the hard work they had been slaving at all day to prepare their school for the festival. Some of the girls were even sharing lunches together, fancying different food each one brought with them.

"Hey, Keiko, you've been very quiet today." The girl with the brown ponytail told her. Keiko didn't listen as she continued to eat.

"Well I would be to, after being attacked like that yesterday, bet your whole life flashed before your eyes." A girl with blonde pigtails said terrified.

"Good thing Natsuko-san was there to get you to safety, the great Natsuko-san!" A female student with red short hair congratulated the other girl.

Natsuko giggled and blushed.

"Even more so, Yuusuke totally protected you, aww Keiko, you are so lucky to have him around." The female with the long brown ponytail looked up into the sky and held her cheeks as she blushed.

"Oh no, Mitsurugi-san is going into her little daydream world." The girl with the pigtails sighed as the rest of her friends laughed.

Keiko smiled, but it wasn't a smile for the comment her friend made, it was a smile for what the girl with the long ponytail had said. She was lucky to have a friend like Yuusuke. She sometimes wondered if she would ever be able to call him something more than just a friend someday.

"Rew!" Nanashi the cat came from out of nowhere as he fell from the tree and onto Keiko's shoulder.

"Nanashi, there you are!" Keiko said with glee as she began to pet the kitten. She was lucky to have a friend like Nanashi as well.

"Kawaii!" The girl with the ponytail squealed.

"Kawaii? He looks a little ragged to me." The blonde girl said with displeasure.

"It's the imperfect features of an object that make it beautiful!" The girl with the ponytail informed her friend while going off in her dream world again. "Like Keiko and Yuusuke, Keiko being the lovable Beauty while Yuusuke is the brutal Beast. Yet they find love from their envy of each other. The Beast being free, which is all Beauty wants to have in life while she is also very lovable, which is all the Beast would ever want! It's so romantic."

"Are you feeling okay?" Natsuko looked at her friend puzzled, seeing stars in her eyes.

The words from the hopelessly romantic girl didn't affect Keiko as she reached down into her lunch box and fed Nanashi a piece of fried shrimp. The cat mewed in pleasure as it munched on the treat. To Keiko's surprise, as she looked up from her kitten, she saw a strange, young woman watch her from a window on the second floor of the school. She didn't think much of it so she returned to look at her cat affectionately as it rubbed its face against Keiko's cheek.

With Ms. Nanashi watching from the window-

"Gemmi! What do you think you are doing..." Ms. Nanashi clenched her fists as she spoke confidentially. 'A risk having my whereabouts found out while he is too caught up in curiosity about a ningen onna.' She thought to herself and tried to calm down as she headed for the stairs. After being "tormented" by the naughty words from all the boys who barged into her class, she thought it relaxing to see the faces of so many girls out in the courtyard. She was even beginning to think that she had applied to an all boys school after seeing so many in her classroom! The location of the boys you ask, were all in detention room, getting scolded on their behavior by the strict Iwamoto and the love-struck Akaishi. It wasn't long until she found herself outside and heading straight for the tree the girls were sitting at. What was she planning to do? Say that that was her cat and that she requested it back?

Ferrywoman Botan, who had been monitoring Keiko from the school rooftop invisibly, suddenly saw Ms. Nanashi advancing toward the girl. She was in shock to see, thanks to her Reikai senses, that Ms. Nanashi had an overwhelming ki emitting from her. "Holy Enma, she could be an Uwibami in disguise!" Botan gasped, lifting up the hose to the Reikai Confinement Jar strapped to her back. Through shear investigation, Botan had found Gemmi, disguised as Keiko's cat. She decided to just follow Keiko around and protect her and Gemmi from any Uwibami men that happened to surface until Yuusuke was done resting so he could take Gemmi to Yasha. "I have no choice but to apprehend-huh?"

Botan stopped herself in mid-sentence when she saw two identical male students, twins possibly, saunter up to the woman and stop her by each grabbing onto one of her arms.

"Nanashi-sensei! How are you!" The one on her right said with a toothy grin.

"Nanashi-sensei! You're coming to the festival tonight, ne!" The one on the left said with an even wider smile.

"Uhm, I guess so." Ms. Nanashi said coy, being interrupted again so suddenly. It was impossible; she couldn't get a moment's peace.

"Oh! You should tell us all about the yukata you will wear!" The boy on the right said in a perverted way.

"And by us, I mean all the guys would like to know!" The boy on the left finished. "Come on, they're all out by the pool now!"

"And maybe we'll be able to push you in and I'll save you, after taking a good look at your soaking wet white dress..." the boy on the left whispered inaudibly.

"Nani? What was that?" Ms. Nanashi stared down at both of them with narrow eyes.

"Nothing!" They said together as the one on the right glared at his brother. "Right this way!" They said together again, leading Ms. Nanashi to the school pool and away from Keiko.

Botan sighed in relief. "Phew. She's just a teacher... but that doesn't explain that strong ki I sense from her." The spirit guide looked down at Keiko and the cat. 'At least you two are safe for a little while longer.' She thought, not noticing that the suspicious Ms. Nanashi Nanashi was peering up at her until the lovesick teenagers dragged her out of sight.

Night of the Festival-

"Don't let us catch ya around here again. This is our turf, ike!" Sawamura kicked a Kasanegafuchi student in the rear because he was already pounded into the ground. Kirishima was correct, gangs of Kasanegafuchi students were planning to crash the Sarayashiki school's festival and make a mess of things. Good thing that most of the guys that attended Sarayashiki agreed to take watch on each corner that surrounded their school, just to not have all the ones who really worked hard on it (the girls) feel discouraged.

"Let's get outta here!" The leader of the opposing gang, the one who got his butt kicked, literally, ordered as he took off. His members followed him.

"HA! Sore wa sugoi!" Kirishima stretched. "Feels like forever since I had a good wrangle."

"I dunno, scraps aren't as they use to be without Kuwabara around to scream about them in triumph afterward." Okubo sighed.

"You mean like this: Oh yeh baby! Who kicks major Kasane ass? We do! I can still see them running with their tails between their legs!" Kuwabara shouted and congratulated his group on their conquest from behind them.

"Well if it isn't the devil himself." Sawamura remarked.

"The devil with a fashion sense. I don't believe you actually wore a yukata." Kirishima pointed out.

Aside from a bandage with a frog character on it stuck to his forehead, the obnoxious teen was dressed in a dark green yukata with different shapes on the front in various colors. "Respect for the dead, that's all it is. I can still pull it off." Kuwabara said striking a pose.

"Yeh, the bandage look is really in too." Kirishima joked.

"Bandage or not, I make whatever I wear look good!" Kuwabara stamped around and shouted loudly.

"Oh, lift your legs a little higher please, I don't think the people across the street got to see under your yukata too." Sawamura grumbled embarrassed at what his eyes witnessed.

"Okubo, you think the bandage looks okay, ne?" Kuwabara asked the other boy.

"Of course, besides your pompadour practically conceals it from the rest of the world. No big deal." Okubo laughed.

"Come on, let's check out what the girls did with the festival. And get this over with I hate wearing these! Eck!" Kirishima glared down at his yukata. It was just a pale green one with no other prints on it. Sawamura wore a pale blue one with printed fish on it. Finally, Okubo's was a plain, shabby dark blue one because of the fact that his mother had to provide for all her children and money was tight even with Okubo's job.

"Hey, Oda, it's your shift on this block now!" Sawamura informed the boy and his group that loitered around across the street smoking.

"Hai! Oh, Kuwabara-sama, so good to see you!" Oda brown-nosed and flicked his cigarette into the street as his group walked over to the corner.

The group of four ambled over to their school's entrance and entered. The place was packed with family members and festivalgoers, everyone was having a good time. It was hard enough to even get by with out bumping into a line of people trying to get at a booth or running into kids playing haphazardly in the middle of your path.

"Ah man, I really wanted to get something to eat. Look at all that good fish!" Okubo drooled.

"The lines are crazy, you'd have to be waiting all night just to get something to eat. We've should've gotten here earlier." Kirishima's stomach began to growl.

"It's good to have you back, Kuwabara-sama." Sawamura told his friend while the other two were too busy looking at all the food booths.

"Good to be back, at least I know the school hasn't gone out of control, you guys really work hard to keep this place in check." Kuwabara laughed roughly but he soon brought it down to a whisper. "No one knows about my little squabble with that Aitofukiji girl?"

"Don't worry about it, we kept it on the down low. Of course, now everyone just thinks you were jumped by Kasane punks." Sawamura said quickly as if he was gargling.

"Oh! Speaking of girls!" Kirishima joined in the conversation again but whispering into his leader's ear. "That new Industrial Arts teacher, we learned is not an old man."

"It's a young guy?" Kuwabara asked dumbfounded as Okubo and Sawamura traded immoral looks.

Kirishima continued to whisper into his ear, "More like a young woman. A true woman, if you know what I mean. Way better to look at than most of the old crows that work here. I'm telling ya dude, all the guys, even Iwamoto and Akaishi are chasing after this girl's skirt!"

Steam came out of Kuwabara's ears and hearts popped into his eyes. "Ooooie! What are we waiting for! Let's find her!"

Okinomiyaki Booth-

"Why did we have to dress this way!" Akaishi yammered messing with the white makeup on his face.

"A true man accepts any obstacle, looks beyond looks, right, Ms. Nanashi?" Iwamoto enlightened his logic.

"Since when did you become the philosopher." Akaishi mumbled.

"I think a man who can accept this look indeed has a very strong will. So glad you agreed to dressing this way at such short notice." Nanashi said slyly. All of the faculty members were dressed up as geishas from the meji era; all except Mr. Takenaka of course.

"Exactly." Iwamoto agreed. "But of course, no other would look as lovely as you, Nanashi."

Ms. Nanashi wasn't listening as she monitored Keiko, Yuusuke, and Natsuko working at the booth from across the one the faculty was standing at.

"I don't know how you talked me into this..." Yuusuke grumbled igniting a fish lying on the burner on fire.

"You didn't help setup, it's the least you could do." Keiko said aggravated. "Yuusuke, that's the fourth one, families don't want their children eating burnt food." She nagged, using her fan to calm the fire on the fish.

"Bet ya wouldn't catch Kuwabara doing anything like this." Yuusuke growled. "If I see him again, it'll be too-"

"Urameshi!" that voice? That voice! That foolish cry was haunting him!

Yuusuke turned to face Kuwabara and his little posse.

"Bet it's good to see my ass again." Kuwabara laughed wildly but he soon became serious. "I challenge you to a fight!"

"Whoa man, take it easy." Sawamura wheedled.

"Kuwabara, I swear, I don't feel like kicking your behind right now!" Yuusuke reached for a knife on the side of the burner.

"Love the yukata by the way, it really suits you. You'll be a ghost when I'm threw with you!" Kuwabara ridiculed.

"That's more than what I can say about yours." Yuusuke growled, the knife twisting in his hands.

Keiko picked up Nanashi the cat that had been tugging at her yukata. She began to stroke him by the neck.

Ms. Nanashi's eyes widened from across the other side. Keiko saw this and became a little worried and turned to Yuusuke.

"Swallow your pride. You don't want to be thrown out." Keiko assumed the wrong thing.

"Tell that to him." Yuusuke stabbed the knife in the wood beside the burner.

"Come on guys, you can fight afterwards, we want this to still be a big success." Natsuko scolded. "And the teachers are watching so don't act up."

"OH! Is the Industrial Arts teacher here too!" Kuwabara glanced around with his tongue hanging out.

"She's right over... huh?" Keiko pointed at the booth but Ms. Nanashi was gone.

Yuusuke and Kuwabara both broke out in laughter, finally seeing Iwamoto and Akaishi dressed THAT way. "I knew there was something strange about those two!" Yuusuke held his side.

"Pure pay-back seeing Akaishi in drag!" Kuwabara howled ecstatic.

"I've could've sworn she was over-wah?" Keiko murmured and looked down at her kitten.

"SKSSS!" Nanashi was hissing like he had done before when that strange snake creature attacked them. Keiko didn't like when this change of attitude came over _her_ pet.

"Kawaii!" Kuwabara squealed when he saw the cat. "Eikichi would love to make friends with that little guy!"

"Oh Kuwabara..." Sawamura, Okubo, and Kirishima sighed together.

"Hey, Keiko, shut that cat up, it's starting to give me a headache." Yuusuke said irritated. All of a sudden, something plopped onto Yuusuke's forehead. He brought his hand up to touch the liquid now on it. 'Rain?'

"This isn't like him, I don't know why he's acting this way..." Keiko whispered.

"Oh no, not the rain!" Natsuko cried looking up to the sky. Thunder began to strike.

"Everyone! Please take refuge inside the school until the rain stops, I'm sure it won't take long." Mr. Takenaka announced.

'I don't like this...' Yuusuke searched around and stepped in front of Keiko.

AHHH! Monster!" A woman shrilled as bystanders joined in the screaming too.

"GEEEH!" out from the crowd leaped an Uwibami man into the rainy heavens. The creature shot for the booth Keiko, Yuusuke, and Natsuko were under just as soon as the next lightning bolt struck. Kuwabara and his gang were moving people out of harm's way as Yuusuke shoved Keiko of to Natsuko and out of the booth while he remained inside.

"Yuusuke!" Keiko screamed as the monster was just about to intercept him when out of nowhere came a huge lightning blast from the school roof. The Uwibami was frozen in his spot being shocked over and over.

Yuusuke glanced up at the school roof as Nanashi stopped hissing and started purring. Another lightning bolt surged through the sky, revealing Yuusuke's savior. A geisha outfit floated to the ground from the one who took it off. Standing right on the rim of the roof's fencing was an oni with red skin. Not just any oni, a female oni! She wore a leopard print cloth not even fit to be called a skirt to go with her leopard print, tattered tube top. She looked wild with her ferocious, shoulder-length jet black hair straying in every direction to go with her masculine arms and legs. Her white claws were shown on her hands and feet as she stood holding her hips and glaring down at the humans with her gold eyes.

Yuusuke felt as if he had a connection with her as she nodded for him to take care of Uwibami. He knew she couldn't be his enemy, she just couldn't be. But what could Yuusuke do? Everyone was watching him, everyone would see him use his powers, everyone was... just standing as if frozen!

"Whoa, what the!" Yuusuke looked around to see that everyone was completely petrified except for the Uwibami man, the mysterious oni, and himself. He decided that he should take care of Uwibami while he still had the chance. With everyone being frozen , they were still easy prey. But what could he do? "Where's Botan when you need her!"

"Yuusuke!" Once again, to his rescue, Botan appeared on time as she swooped down on her oar with the ReiKai Confinement Jar strapped up. She aimed it at Uwibami as she flew closer and turned it on. In an instant, he was sucked up too.

"All right! Who ya gonna call? ReiKai busters!" Yuusuke laughed at the statement he made.

"Huh? ReiKai busters? I don't understand?" Botan floated down besides Yuusuke, switching the vacuum off.

"Never mind, hey, I didn't have to break a sweat once again, now this is a vacation!" Yuusuke said happily bringing his hands behind his head. But out of nowhere, he soon realized the situation became anything but happy. The red oni descended from the rooftop and dove right at Keiko. The oni female had scooped Nanashi the cat right up in her arms and jumped up over the school gate.

"What was that all about?" Yuusuke sighed.

"Yuusuke! You have to go after her! That cat is Gemmi in disguise! She's capturing him!" Botan screamed.

"Huh? Really! Why didn't you tell me that before!" Yuusuke screamed back at her and took off after the unknown intruder, everyone still frozen in their tracks.

Abandoned lot-

"Rei gun!" Yuusuke shot his ki at the red oni. It made contact with her leg while she was trying to leap away from the ReiKai Tantei. She hunched to the floor, clutching the cat to her chest. "What do you want with the cat!" Yuusuke demanded.

The red oni didn't answer.

"Might as well tell me, you brought me all the way back to where I first encountered one of your stupid gel men too. Am I gonna hafta kick your ass just like I did your little lackey to get it out of you?" Yuusuke edged forward.

Nanashi the cat sprung from the red oni onna's hands and began hissing at Yuusuke!

"Huh? Nani?" Yuusuke stared dumbfounded. "Ugh, stupid cat."

"Enough." The red devil coughed out in a tone both _peaceful and seductive_. She forced herself to stand straight even though she had been injured. "I am not your enemy."

"Then what do you want with the cat! If you're after Gemmi to take him back to that Shazmee guy then forget it!" Yuusuke argued. 'Huh? The rain stopped...'

"I do not, nor have I ever been on that bastard's side!" The woman protested.

"Then who are you!" Yuusuke demanded, stopping in his tracks.

"My name, Yosei. I work for KoEnma. And I'm here to get my Raiju back!" she screamed, causing Yuusuke to grow a flabbergasted expression.

"The toddler...? Then you are..." he gasped.

"The one Yasha has told you about." Her voice calmed. "Gemmi, you can come out of hiding now."

The cat's head nodded as it poofed into a ball of smoke. When the smog cleared out came an adorably small yellow oni with long green hair and a leopard print tunic. "Konnichi wa!" he said cutely.

"It's a baby?" Yuusuke's eyebrow twitched.

Yosei nodded. "One out of thirty-two children that I had conceived with my darling koibito, Jorge Saotome." She said hugging her shoulders and looking up at the moon like a lovesick dog.

"THIRTY-TWO?" Yuusuke thought about who the father COULD have been.

"Yuusuke!" Botan made the scene and landed next to her partner.

"I believe Yasha has told you why Shazmee would want to force me to join him..." Yosei continued.

"You?" Botan looked at her surprised.

"Konnichi wa, Botan. I may have never met you but my Jorge has told me a lot about you." Yosei bowed.

"Oh my word! You're his wife!" Botan said in shock, Yuusuke feeling left out.

She nodded in agreement. "Not only that, but..." A slow mist formed over her and as soon as it expelled, there stood Ms. Nanashi Nanashi in her white suit. "The Industrial Art teacher of Sarayashiki Junior High."

Yuusuke blushed, finally seeing what all the guys were talking about all this time.

"Matte... Why are you disguised as a teacher? Just to find your child?" Botan interrogated.

"Ningenkai always interested me, but I was never allowed to go outside of ReiKai, Jorge always told me everything about it... so I sneaked away when the auguries had appeared around the Sanzu no Kawa, distracting anyone from my departure, but I didn't know Gemmi had followed me instead of staying behind with his siblings: Oni 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32."

"Those are swell names." Yuusuke said sarcastically.

"I was soon confronted by Shazmee to join him but I refused, so he went after Gemmi who was now vulnerable outside the safety that was ReiKai. Now I can send Gemmi back as I continue my study her on ningens." Yosei informed them.

"But, kaasan... I want to stay here, with Keiko-sama." Gemmi spoke up.

"You aren't safe don't you see, you'll just keep putting that girl in danger." Yosei's word was final. "I want you to stay with your father, then when this is all over you can come back and VISIT for a while, only visit."

"Hai, kaasan." Gemmi's single horn seemed to droop.

"Now what do you say?" Yosei scolded with narrowed eyes.

"Arigatou. You watched over me, I give you my thanks." Gemmi bowed to Botan and Yuusuke.

"Don't mention it... heh." Yuusuke sighed and bowed back. 'Keiko is gonna kill me! She won't have her cat anymore! Wait a minute... now I get more attention..." he had a wicked smile on his face. "Well you should be off I guess!"

"Botan, could you return Gemmi to Jorge safely?" the disguised oni asked the ferrywoman.

"Oh sure. Matte! Everyone at the festival! They are still frozen!" Botan shrieked.

"Oh yeh... Don't worry, when time is frozen by my magic it only stays that way for ten minutes. My powers are very weak here but I can manage." Yosei sighed and walked toward Yuusuke. "Now... Let's get back to the festival! You ningens are so fun!"

Sarayashiki Junior High-

"EEE!" Akaishi squeaked looking around from being awaken, still thinking the attack was going on. "Has my lipstick smeared?" he said with his head on something totally different. "Nana-chan did it with those delicate hands of hers, I don't want it to smudge!

"Nana-chan? Did she agree to that?" Iwamoto crossed his arms and stared down at his fellow co-worker.

"She will when I address her by it." Akaishi chuckled and surrendered his mind to his own fantasy.

"Hey? Where's the monsters?" Okubo looked around.

"AH! Nanashi is gone!" Keiko glanced around. "Yuusuke, where is he!"

"Huh? Nanashi-sensei is not here!" Sawamura and Kirishima glanced around.

"Nanashi-sensei?" Keiko looked at them puzzled.

"Ah man, I wanted to see her too." Kuwabara sighed. Without warning, a chill crept over Kuwabara's spine. 'Oh no, not that feeling again!'

"Eh! It's Nanashi-sensei!" one of the male student's squealed but soon turned his scream to a sharp hiss. "Why is her arm around YUUSUKE!"

Yuusuke and "Ms. Nanashi" walked through the school gate, the female teacher quickly releasing her arm from around Yuusuke's arm.

"AAAIE! HEHEHE!" Kuwabara had hearts pop into his eyes once again when he caught sight of the young teacher. He trampled over innocent victims in his way just to stand in the presence of Ms. Nanashi.

"Uhm. Konnichi wa... eh?" Ms. Nanashi said with a confused expression as Kuwabara cupped her right hand with both of his.

He began to speak in an alluring tone as the teacher and him where whisked away into his own world. "My dearest Industrial Arts teacher, why do you degrade your positive energy by associating yourself with this ecchi? I believe you and me can-" Kuwabara was thrown out of his fantasy by his three friends that pushed him aside.

They were all talking at once and each one was trying to hold the teacher's hand. "Oh Nanashi-sensei, you look so appealing in the moonlight, as always!"

Yuusuke and Ms. Nanashi were embarrassed for each other as everyone in the courtyard was observing the scene.

"Uhm, gomen, but could you-" Ms. Nanashi began but was cut off by Iwamoto and Akaishi knocking the three male students out of the way now. Both of the teachers were holding on of her hands now.

"Never fear, Akaishi is here! I assure you that the actions of the boys will be severely punished. By the way, do you think you can redo my makeup since you did such a wonderful job before!" Akaishi sucked up to her.

"Hm?" Iwamoto stared down at her attire.

"Gross, Iwamoto! Looking at a fellow teacher that way!" Yuusuke said with slits for eyes.

"Care to explain yourself, Iwamoto?" Mr. Takenaka stalked up from behind the two mischievous teachers.

Iwamoto overlooked Yuusuke's comment, "Why aren't you dressed up anymore?"

Ms. Nanashi had a sweat drop form over her brow as she narrowed her eyes. "Oh, the idea was simply trivial. I think a man who can accept that look indeed has a very strong will, but of course, a weak heart. They buy into anything I suppose. Unlike Mr. Takenaka, he must have a very strong heart." She admired.

Iwamoto and Akaishi had wide eyes as they began rubbing the face paint off their faces with the sleeve of their kimono.

"Exactly! I was just making Akaishi feel better by dressing up with him." Iwamoto insisted.

"Yeh yeh, hey! Wait a minute!" Akaishi caught on.

"Enough chitchat." Ms. Nanashi faked a laugh, she didn't notice that she had laced her hands around Yuusuke's arm again. Kuwabara and his gang glared at the ReiKai Tantei from the sidelines as Iwamoto and Akaishi had saucers for eyes. "The rain has stopped and the night is young. I hope you liked the little sideshow I scheduled earlier! Ehehe! It was titled "Red oni and the Gel man"! A beautiful Obon feature about the Red oni's ghost coming to visit her family but is stopped by a Gel man who loves her. It was a sneak peek show! Oh, fish, that looks tasty! Mmmm." Ms. Nanashi covered up the incident by making everyone believe it was a show. She also wanted to get away from the aroused men around her. She laced her hand around Mr. Takenaka's as well. "Oh, Takenaka-san, do tell me more about the new curriculum." She dragged both the teacher and the ReiKai Tantei away as the festival was now back on track.

"Damn you Urameshi!" Kuwabara and his gang said in unison.

"Eck! Mr. Takenaka!" Iwamoto and Akaishi growled simultaneously.

"Let's go, find a place still open to buy a burger, man I'm hungry." Kirishima's stomach began to act up.

"Ergh! My new goal, to save that mechanic goddess' heart from that scum, Urameshi!" Kuwabara screamed.

"Iie, your goal is to wait around here until the festival is over." Natsuko ordered standing behind the boys.

"Huh? Why would we do-AH!" Kuwabara turned around and was in shock.

There stood all the girls blocking the exit. Worst of all, all the male students stood there too, all roped up and bounded in shackles.

"You think we can just let you get off scot-free? We did all the work and now you get to clean up afterwards for your punishment!" All the girls said together as they held up an assortment of cleaning tools.

"WAAAAH!" All the male students shrieked in horror as the audience laughed at the scene.

One person, however, couldn't find herself to laugh at the scene. Keiko stood over by her booth, unable to join the rest of her fellow students. She was frozen in her tracks. Not by a spell, but from what her eyes had seen. Not only had her kitten vanished, Keiko felt betrayed and lonely, seeing Yuusuke acting giddy and conversing with the irresistible teacher eagerly-not even once seeing if Keiko was okay or even conversing with her... for the rest of the night.

Case five**--- CLOSED **

Japanese / English: Baka / moron (so widely used, seems pointless to put this translation here), minna / everyone, bijin / a hot babe, bento / lunch box, ike / fucking go, ippai oppai / breasts, chi chi / tits, nanpa / a pickup line, sore wa sugoi / that was awesome, geisha / "entertainment" ladies from the meji era working in pleasure houses although they are not considered prostitutes.

New name meanings: -Nanashi Nanashi simply means "no name". The coincidence is that Nanashi Nanashi is the name of the new teacher at Sarayashiki Junior High while Nanashi is also the name of Keiko's "cat". Nanashi Nanashi and Nanashi, whose real name is Gemmi, are both related as mother and son!

Yosei is the real name of the Industrial Arts teacher, Ms. Nanashi. She is a Shiko-Me, which in Japanese Mythology is the name for a female oni. She has learned the ability to stop time for a short time with a strike of one of her lightning bolts. Yosei are Japanese fairies that are most often seen as birds, cranes, or swans. Side note: Yosei is married to Jorge Saotome (blue ogre to KoEnma) but the two fight all the time and act as if they are separated. Yosei always talks about him in a good way when she is away from him, but if they are in the same room, they start to fight again. It's an on-off relationship --;;;

Oni 2-32 are the dull names Jorge came up for his THIRTY-ONE children. Only the firstborn received a proper name from Yosei, Gemmi, since he is the only one that doesn't look like the rest of his siblings-they are green while he is yellow. Jorge decided that since the rest of the thirty-one children looked identical, it would be too hard to remember who they were by name so numbers seemed to fit them better. Yosei rues the day when she decided to leave Jorge in charge of the naming. All of them being thunder oni as well, their powers aren't as developed as their eldest brother Gemmi's.

Author's Note: The choice of yukatas for both Keiko and Yuusuke is a sort of pun. Yuusuke's name means "ghost help" (little caricature ghosts printed on his yukata) and Keiko's is "firefly child" (little cartoon fireflies printed on hers).

**Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator**


	11. Case Six: Keiko is kidnappedconfessions ...

Narrator: With the night of the Sarayashiki festival nearing, Yuusuke finds time to rest up for the big night and hopefully capturing the Raiju, Gemmi, soon so he can then go after the creator of the Uwibami men. Elsewhere, a new, tantalizing teacher is admitted into Sarayashiki Junior High, giving off a strange aura to Botan. The ferrywoman's suspicions are proven correct during the night of the festival, this Industrial Arts teacher, is in fact an oni. She reveals herself to be the creator of Gemmi and secretary to KoEnma! She is now ready and willing to help Yuusuke with the take down of Shazmee but in the mean time, she wants to also explore the world of Ningenkai. But with Obon week approaching the end, Yofune Nushi has yet to be caught and Yuusuke has not yet made an attempt at closing the case.

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

**_Case Six_**---**Keiko is kidnapped! The confessions from a broken heart**

"Rew, rew?" Nanashi the cat, better known as Gemmi in disguise, mewed as he hunched up against the bathtub. Keiko soaked in the sizzling water while steam filled the bathing area of the bathroom. It rejuvenated her very being; her muscles hadn't ached so much since. Working at the festival really did take a lot out of you. Yet, that wasn't what brought Keiko into such fatigue. What happened earlier in the evening, seeing that she was unwanted, not needed... She felt useless. All night as she worked, Yuusuke had ran off; showing that new teacher around the festival. How could Keiko compare to such a woman. She felt awful and it was Yuusuke who made her feel this way.

"Mwee?" the pygmy fur-ball leaped up on to the rim of the bathtub and peered at Keiko, realizing she hadn't heard its first whine for her.

"Oh Nanashi, you still awake?" the brunette broke from her thoughts. She reached over and stroked the feline's petite ears, causing it to purr and nuzzle its head against her palm. "Gomen... I may seem out of it... Gomen..." Keiko's expression became uncertain and then very sad. She gazed down into the water with eyes full of despondency. She glanced over her body; so many times Yuusuke had groped her and fondled her in various parts yet she knew she was still growing... She wasn't near to anything close to matching what that Industrial Arts teacher had and she knew this. The very thought of it made her insides turn and her head billow with begrudging speculations. Plop. Plip. Plip. Plop. The water rippled from her tears that greeted it surprisingly.

"It's not my fault, how can I compete with an older woman? His eye wanders, I can't stop that... but it makes me feel so inferior... I can't help being the way I am!" Keiko mumbled inaudibly to herself as she hugged her knees to her chest, the water rustling around her just as silent as her speech.

Nanashi tilted his head from one side to the other, the bald spot at the end of his tail swished around in the bath water.

"What am I saying? I shouldn't blame Yuusuke... Iie..." Keiko shook her head from side to side as she clenched her eyes to a close. She grabbed her shoulders and leaned back. She had to think this through, she needed a clear conscience.

"_Why don't you tell me, what do you believe? Your eyes, or a close friend?"_

She believed him, of course. Even if her eyes had seen the truth, she wouldn't have believed them. She had such strong feelings for Yuusuke, how could she deny her heart? Or would that just be something that will break her in the end. Relying on an adoration that wasn't _mutual_? Why did she have to make it so difficult on herself? She trusts him so much more. She already forgave him before, why not again? But for some reason, she had to be sure. She knew he wasn't that kind of _guy _that did that kind of _thing_ in warehouses, and she knew he wasn't that kind of guy that would deliberately ignore her existence even if another female came into the picture. "He is innocent, he would never..."

However, at times, she felt as if he was growing up more faster than her, he was changing, and she just stayed the same. She was weighing him down and they both knew it. As much as it is hard to tell, Yuusuke was becoming different everyday—so much was being kept from her, she knew that. Her being responsible and proprietor of proper etiquette still didn't seem like much to her. She had a good head on her shoulders and so did Yuusuke, yet she felt like such a _virgin_ and saw him with much experience... He just wasn't the same anymore. Maybe she should do them both a favor and just drop off, drop away from him completely. There was nothing she could do that could make her feel anymore grown up, _nothing _at all.

"Aishiteru... Yuusuke." Keiko lifted her head from off its resting place as the rest of her body arched up from the back of the tub. She glimpsed over to Nanashi. His eyes were full of concern and he did not make a sound as he breathed hesitantly. It was as if he knew what troubled her and wanted to aid her, yet he just couldn't. She felt the urge to cry even more now once she looked at the compassion illuminating from Nanashi's face. All in an instant, she embraced him in a light cuddle and twirled her fingers around his fur.

"Arigatou..." she wept into the kitten's fur yet Nanashi still didn't make a sound. It wasn't out of surprise from Keiko's newfound happiness that made the Raiju-in-hiding fall silent, something outside the window terrified him; something horrendous was about to happen. A grayish-red blur slithered by.

Yukimura Diner, Downstairs-

"Did you hear that? Sounded like a scratching noise at the door?" Mr. Yukimura looked up from his hand.

"I didn't hear anything." Mrs. Yukimura retorted a little peeved. She was ready to surrender to sleep but she had promised her husband a game of cards first.

Mr. Yukimura threw down his hand and stood up from his chair.

"I knew I was going to win! You and your bluffing. Let's end this now—" Mrs. Yukimura droned on but soon noticed her husband head for the entrance door of the Diner. "Anata, iie! It's too late at night, don't you dare open that door!"

"Aw, shh. It's probably another lost kitten." Mr. Yukimura cooed and placed his hand on the handle.

"That's the thing, I don't want anymore cats!" Mrs. Yukimura pleaded as she jumped from her own chair now.

All of a sudden, a knock was heard vibrate off the door, Mrs. Yukimura instantly stiffened up.

"Like I said before, cats don't knock! Don't get curious." The wife's hair stood on end.

"Aw, anata, what's with women worrying so much, there's nothing to be afraid of when you have a big, courageous man protecting you. Now," Mr. Yukimura opened the doors and kneeled down, "Come here little kitt—" he suddenly noticed he wasn't looking into the eyes of a kitten at all but the lower body of an Uwibami man! "EEE!"

"Big, courageous man huh!" Mrs. Yukimura screamed and ran to the phone on the counter in a heartbeat. She tried dialing for the police in a panic as the receiver trembled in her hand but to no avail. Just as soon as her husband had opened the door the half snake, half man beast slung his rubbery arms forward and flung Keiko's father clear across the room. His back came in contact with the edge of a table and he let out a harrowing gag.

Mrs. Yukimura had accomplished the dialing sequence but as soon as the police department's operator came on the other line Keiko's mother had completely drawn a blank. Mrs. Yukimura, out of terror when she saw what happened to her husband, dropped the phone and dashed over to him. Though the Uwibami man wouldn't allow her to get any closer to her unconscious spouse. He now swung a ball of red gelatin aiming right for Mrs. Yukimura. It made impact and covered her arms and legs; she hit the floor hard. She was prepared to scream but part of the gelatinous matter began to wriggle as if alive and spread part of its self up towards Mrs. Yukimura's face, concealing her mouth. The only word that was heard before being muffled was the poor mother shouting, "Keiko!"

Mrs. Yukimura struggled about but it was no use, the Uwibami man shot pass both the two parents once the woman ceased her actions permanently, now unable to warn or protect Keiko, and headed for the upstairs to find their child.

Back Upstairs-

Keiko was standing by the tub now as she wrung out her hair and combed through it. Suddenly, a noise came to her attention. Was someone calling her name? Keiko became a little anxious as she reached for one of the creamy orange towels that hung off a rack. Nanashi's eyes grew diminutive as his sharp whiskers perked out while he hissed at the door.

"What's wrong?" Keiko asked and wrapped the towel around her. She bent down to calm the creature but it still hissed even louder as its hair stood up. "I don't see what's the—"

FWSSH! CRSSH! DFF! DFF!

A frightful crash came from outside the bathroom and pretty much caught Keiko's attention. It sounded as if something had ripped apart the floor in the hallway and was now punching every wall out. Keiko began to dread what was outside the bathroom and became even more horrified to realize that whatever it was it had gotten passed her parents. The clamor ceased and the entire household was silent. Nanashi had stopped hissing when the crashes had begun and was now cowering in the arms of Keiko. The lights went out.

"Oh no... oh no... Okaasan... Otousan... Iie..." Keiko edged back with wide eyes. She began to stumble over her own feet and she fell over, but to her dismay, she had leaned right up against the wall. Her breath was heavy as her back slid down the side of the cold porcelain. With the rivulets of water still dotted on her, it began to chill her body as her breath became even more rapid and her heart rate just shot up a few notches.

Beat by beat went by, she could literally hear it now. Each string strung against her rib cage as her heart bounced about, she couldn't control it. Maybe if she was dead silent, which she already was, maybe the creature wouldn't realize she around. A creak was heard as the door to the washroom slit open. She clutched her eyes closed and constrained Nanashi to her chest. She had never been more afraid in her life. She wished for her parents, for Yuusuke, to just burst in and yell "surprise" and say it was just a joke. And if it wasn't... she wished Yuusuke would rush in right now and save her.

She wanted it all to be over, whatever this intruder wanted she just begged for them to take what it was and leave. Too bad for her she didn't know that it was her it wanted...

Nothing entered the room... The outside was as silent as the dead once again. Three minutes had passed and nothing happened... It must have left, it was gone! Keiko sighed in relief as she peeked one of her eyes opened, regretting she had ever done so. There, staring at her in the darkness from the crack in the door, was the menacing, glowing eye of the Uwibami man. Keiko let out a nerve-racking scream as the monster broke through the doorway and shot towards Keiko like a bullet.

Her scream being heard throughout the entire neighborhood.

Five minutes earlier, three blocks away, under a street light-

"Okay Botan, tell me why we weren't stationed anywhere closer to Keiko's place if we are suppose to be protecting her from those gel bastards." Yuusuke grumbled as he turned up the collar of his black jean jacket, the white shirt under it flicking in the wind.

"One key reason, Keiko was taking a bath and where is the bathtub? In the front on the upper floor!" Botan crossed her arms as she floated on her oar.

"USO! You think I WOULD actually peek in on her?" Yuusuke chuckled and itched his head.

Botan turned to him with a disappointed look on her face.

Yuusuke huffed, "Well we are suppose to keep an eye on her, no better way than that—"

The ReiKai Tantei choked on his words when Botan smacked him in the back of his head with her oar. "Grow up!"

"Hush now, that sound... You hear that?" _Ms. Nanashi_, revealing herself to be standing just from the side of the two as they squabbled, brought her curly locks from her ears to listen carefully. "Gemmi."

"Huh? I don't hear any—" Yuusuke began but was cut off when thunder was heard penetrating the sky. Ms. Nanashi, ripping off her "teacher" clothes to reveal her leopard-print undergarments, glanced around paranoid. "WHOA WHOA! what are you doing! Don't do that what if—"

"Your friend's in trouble... and so is my son." She said as her energy began to flow over her and change her back into her true form. And with that, Yosei made off in a mad dash in the direction of Keiko's residence.

A lightning bolt crashed over to where Keiko's house lay in the distance.

"Eck! Keiko!" Yuusuke caught on and took off after the shiko-me.

"Delayed reaction as always?" Botan sighed and whisked off after the two in the dead of night.

Yuusuke lost sight of Yosei when he made it to the Yukimura diner but that didn't stop him from barging in. The boy peered around and his eyes bulged when he noticed both Keiko's parents cast aside on the floor. Yuusuke instantaneously came to both of their sides and propped the mother up on her back.

"Oh my! Yuusuke." Botan gasped shocked and immediately came to his side.

"B-Botan... Are they... they aren't..." Yuusuke stammered with the words.

"Keiko's father is knocked out, and it seems that Keiko's mother passed out just before we got here. They are not dead." Botan clutched her chest in relief.

"Keiko!" Yuusuke suddenly realized that if this is what happened to someone that was in the Uwibami man's way, then the one he was targeting might be in even worse trouble. Yuusuke vanished from Botan's side, he had sprinted out of that room faster than anything Botan had ever seen.

Yuusuke practically stumbled up the stairs that were left in shambles. The entire upper floor looked as if it were turned upside down. The teenager instantly ran towards the bathroom and possibly swung the door off its hinges when he entered. There was Yosei standing before a gaping hole torn into the wall of the bathroom; the moonlight shone through and it was unbearably frigid within the bathroom.

"Iie!" Yuusuke brought himself to the ground and punched at the floor. "Keiko! I should've been—"

"Don't waste your energy, get up and act like a man." Yosei hissed, her eyes still fixated on the outside world. "A real man would confess to everything his heart desires. That's the only way for _him _to see it. _His_ powers will drain when _both_ confess their love for each other. He feeds on a woman's love but when she no longer lets him have it, when she loves another, _he _will die. Act like a man."

Yuusuke jerked his head up, "What the hell are you talking about! Don't tell me what to do! You've only known me for a couple of freakin' hours! I'll sit here and yabber all I want!"

"And will that help you save her?" Yosei asked calmly.

"Shove it!" Yuusuke punched the floor again.

"Stubborn." Yosei turned around to face the boy.

"I don't see you going after anyone! What about your son? You don't care!" Yuusuke brought himself up from the floor as he tightened his muscles.

"There is no way I can sense him, Uwibami secure their targets into gelatin barriers that conceal their energy. I am unable to locate him." Yosei brought her head down. "If I could I wouldn't be standing here right now wasting my time. I shouldn't have gave in to his whining, he wanting to stay in Ningenkai for one more night... How blind of a mother am I..."

"You're useless to me then, I gotta find Keiko!" Yuusuke snarled, about to turn away from the oni.

"I can sense the human girl's energy however..." Yosei said, striking up Yuusuke's interests.

The boy ran over to her in a haste. "Where is she—uh!"

Yuusuke looked down at his thighs to see that Yosei's hands were cupped over them as she wriggled her fingers about his sides.

Yuusuke beamed red, "Kuso! What the hell are you doing!"

"Hush now," Yosei's eyes were closed as she placed her forehead on Yuusuke's, "I need to focus on her, I need to see your vision of her, feel her own presence. There were so many girls earlier in the evening at the festival, I don't really know who this 'Keiko' is. But if I can get all the information of her from you—appearance, attributes, smell—I can find her then." Her fingers brushed up Yuusuke's sides intimately and caressingly moved over Yuusuke's chest.

"Can you hurry it along, doesn't feel right when a woman does the coping and groping ya' know." He tried looking away embarrassed. A shimmering fragment gleamed in the corner of the bathroom but soon went dim again, remaining unbeknownst to the two.

"Complete, I found her." Yosei brought her hands away from Yuusuke slowly as Botan made the scene. Yuusuke jerked his forehead away from hers quickly, hoping Botan didn't see anything. "Of course, a picture would've done nicely too." The female oni began to giggle.

Steam emerged from Yuusuke's ears as he turned an even brighter shade of red. "Kuso! You took advantage of me!" He swung a punch at her but Yosei quickly grabbed his arm and hurled him onto her shoulders.

"Eheh, I don't even wanna ask." Botan chuckled unknowingly and itched the top of her head.

"You did quite a half-assed job, you're very open, Yuu-kun." Yosei teased and leaped out through the hole in the wall.

"Wait until you put me down, I'll show you half-assed! This isn't a time for freakin' fooling around! And don't call me Yuu-kun!" Yuusuke shouted as Yosei hopped about from rooftop to rooftop.

"Okay, maybe I do wanna know what happened!" Botan grinned as she hovered after the two.

"Don't you start! Criminy, everyone's out to get me!" Yuusuke screamed into the night air as the trio continued forth towards their destination.


	12. Case Six Continuation

Outskirts of town, forest clearing by a waterfall-

The Uwibami man dropped Keiko directly into the bank of the river and then disappeared over the waterfall. The bare girl forced her way up out of the water and gasped for air. She glanced around to see if wherever she was was a place familiar to her, it wasn't. She rubbed her shoulders and tried to warm them. The water was anything but welcoming and it froze her right to the bone. Her pale orange towel floated beside her and she quickly snatched it from the water. She proceeded to swim over to the shore of the river to step out of the icy liquid.

It was completely quiet; no other sounds were heard filling the night air except for the slight hushes of the waterfall. "Where am I? Nanashi? Nanashi!" Keiko looked in every direction but her cat or her attacker was nowhere in sight. She then wrung out her towel and wrapped it over her body, the only article of clothing she had right now. Suddenly, she felt lonesome all over again and huddled to the ground. "Okaasan... Otousan... What happened to them? I'm alone again. I don't want to be here." Keiko shook her head and swallowed her fear. "Iie! I'm not scared, I can't be afraid." Her mind filled with visions of Yuusuke. 'If you can tough out anything, if you can never show fear, then so can I... I'll prove to you that I can take it, I'm not weak, and I don't need to be protected all the time... I'll show you."

The brunette pushed herself from off the ground but was soon welcomed by an onslaught of raging wind. "Eee!" she winced from the cold as the gust battled against her-stripping away her towel. She tugged on the end of it to keep it from rising into the air but the gale was just too fierce. She lost hold of her only means of apparel as it flew up to the head of the waterfall and got caught onto a branch of a... sakura tree? Not just a sakura tree, but a withered sakura tree that extended from the head of the waterfall!

It sprouted out from the cliff-side as the water gushed by it and expelled into the lake. Keiko felt the cool air scouring her body as she kneeled down. It bit at her skin while she tried to keep her shoulders warm with the friction of her hands. "What's happening?"

"Too cold for you? I express my deepest apologies, wouldn't want such an extravagant being like yourself catch her death." A soothing, masculine voice echoed through the woods that surrounded Keiko.

The girl twisted her head about, "Who's there?" The wind quieted.

The black blossoms on the tree began to twitter about like bird feathers as they departed from the branches and fluttered down to Keiko. The fourteen-year-old girl saw her towel move into the hands of a man that sat in the tree. His countenance was most handsome while fluffy pink bangs hid his eyes. His hair was drawn into a tight bun while a bulky, red ribbon held it together-a black sunflower was protruding from the side of the bun. His skin was a light milk chocolate color but hardly seen due to his conservative attire. A tight black turtleneck was hardly seen under his pearl white trench coat that was even less visible because of the fact that a crimson red parka-like robe was thrown over that. An assortment of jewels was embedded into the left side of the slicker but on the right were just designs of Sakura flowers. Big fuzzy, ivory boots went up to his knees while his chalky, velvet pants were seen from there on. He tilted his head upward to reveal his golden eyes.

"Who are you?" Keiko asked, the blood rushing to her cheeks, she felt a little bit more than embarrassed because she was exposed to him in her birthday suit. She tried to conceal as much as she could from his eyes.

"Now, now. No need to feel mortified. Such beauty shouldn't be hidden, especially when I have _already_ seen you this way countless times before." The bough of cherry blossoms clearly seen around his neck began to flicker as the black petals that landed by Keiko began to flicker in synchronous with the necklace. The petals lifted themselves from off the ground and formed around Keiko like a sphere and locked her inside.

"What's happening!" Keiko called as the energy prism floated up towards the peculiar, yet ravishing, man. It stopped directly in front of him while the top part of the sphere melted away, causing Keiko to present her self unprotected to the stranger.

He reached for her and Keiko was prepared to either slap him or edge back but she knew she might fall off the small platform of energy she was now standing on. Her body felt numb and she couldn't move an inch, she was frozen!

"Musubi no Kami. Refer to me as Musubi, but a more appropriate name _you_ can call me is _Pin-Pin-chan_." He prattled composedly. His gloved fingertips extended from the robe he wore and laced around Keiko's neck-his left hand still hiding under the robe.

"Pin-Pin... Iie! Ecchi!" Keiko grew worried as she tried to reach out and do something, anything.

A mischievous grimace tugged at the corners of Musubi's mouth as he brought out his left hand now-her towel being gripped by his fingers. He brought it up to his nose as he inhaled heavenly before wrapping it around her. He rested both hands on her back and drew her closer.

If she could she would punch the living daylights out of him, if only she could move. She struggled from his grip and nudged her shoulders away from his own.

"No need to be hostile." He strained her arms and pushed her closer to him.

"Gah! What do you want?" She gasped in pain.

"You." Musubi retreated his right hand away from her backside and cupped her chin with it. "That's what I wish I could say but it is that underworld detective we need, you are just the bait to lure him in and when he is annihilated then I can have you."

"Yuusuke? Iie! You can't!" Keiko tried to get her head away from him but his grasp was too strong. Tears that burned her began to well up in her eyes.

"Urameshi... Weren't you pondering the fact that he may not be right for you? _Relying on an adoration that wasn't_ _mutual_?" Keiko's eyes widened at what Musubi quoted. "It's what you said, well thought. You're right, you're letting your heart deceive you. He doesn't care you know, why else would he move onto much _bigger_ and _better_ things? He cons you. He goes after older women because they have more to offer, that's how ningen men are. They don't acknowledge a genuine lady's existence and go off with whatever whore they can get their filthy hands on."

"You're wrong, that's not Yuusuke at all." Keiko whimpered.

"Oh it isn't? This isn't Yuusuke?" Musubi brought his right hand out as the _shimmering light_ from Keiko's bathroom appeared in Musubi's hand. It formed into an assortment of photographs all containing Yuusuke.

"It's not true, those are fakes!" Keiko stared at the pictures in shock. One of which was Yuusuke and Yosei (but in the form of Ms. Nanashi) huddled together in Keiko's bathroom-Yosei with her hands on Yuusuke's sides. Another almost identical to the last yet her hands moved up a bit. The next quite the same but her hands now moved down a bit. Musubi flipped through the pages of pictures and to Keiko's "amusement", the pictures moved like those flipbooks. The entire image was just unbearable.

"They are quite _real_, koibito." Musubi closed his palm and the pictures disappeared.

"Don't call me that!" Keiko defended herself. "It's a lie!"

"Ah, koibito, it's very truthful. My cameras are very unnoticeable; no one can detect them, yet they can catch every aspect of a situation. Which is how I was able to keep an eye on you; every... single... last... moment." Musubi leaned his head closer to Keiko.

"Iie... Yuusuke..." Keiko cried and shut her eyes.

"He could never treat you the way I can. Come away with me back to _Kanzakura_, I promise a great deal of _love _in the future. I horned after your steps ever since Yuusuke, that detective, was brought back to life. _We_'ve planned to accomplish our goal and now we will be able to do so because of Yuusuke being the perfect candidate. Once he's dead, again, why would it matter to you? He doesn't love you yet you claim to love him. If you tell him he won't accept you. He won't love you. You are confused. Take up my proposal or this won't go over too easy, what do you say to that?"

Instead of Keiko voicing her opinion, Yuusuke did it for her. "Get your dirty hands off her!" he screamed, entering the scene from below. Yosei and Botan exited the forest as well and took a fighting stance besides Yuusuke--Botan having the Confinement Jar ready to take down any Uwibami men that may appear.

"Yuusuke, help, I-" Keiko began but one of Musubi's petals from his tree slapped onto Keiko's cheek and shocked her. "AIIE!"

"Keiko!" Yuusuke took off for the cliff-side.

The young girl fainted into Musubi's chest as he drew her closer. "That's far enough, detective." He placed one hand under Keiko's legs and left the other on her back. He then hoisted her up so she was nestled comfortably in his arms. "Any closer and it's the cat's head." On cue with Musubi's words, a massive creature emerged from the waterfall, gripping the now transformed Gemmi by the neck in his teeth. It looked like a grand bird, almost like a phoenix, yet its feathers were dingy and as dark as the midnight sky. **RAICHO**

"Gemmi!" Botan screamed.

"That's a thunder-bird! That's my creation, you copied it...?" Yosei's eyebrows furrowed as she became uneasy.

"Indeed. It's quite easy to do when you have taken some of Gemmi's DNA. Now, ferrywoman, drop the vacuum, and detective, step back." Musubi smirked.

Botan began to release the straps from off her back but Yuusuke refused to do as he was told.

"Now is not the time to be stubborn, that's my son!" Yosei fumed as she faced Yuusuke.

"And that's also someone I care about..." Yuusuke brought up his left hand and pointed it at Musubi's head. "You can always make more of those freakin' creatures, but Keiko is one in a million. I rather forsake that monster than Keiko, as long as I'm able to kill that bastard."

"Wait a minute... ah!" Botan caught on, Yuusuke had already used up his energy previously, there was no way he had enough energy left!

"Stand down at once, I implore you." His eyes began to gleam. "You waste a shot on me? Do you actually think you can nick me with your energy. I've watched you battle before, you ride on chance. Chance won't help you this time. Yet, how far would you go to prove to her that you love her? Do you even love her? Or do you just toy with her heart knowing you are able to influence her so much? The thought of controlling her intrigues you doesn't it?" Musubi picked up her head and moved it about as he tried to mimick her voice. "Do you love me? Simple yes, simple no."

Yuusuke lowered his arm as his eyes grew intent.

Musubi's eyes shimmered even more as he gazed at what was forming behind the trio below him. "Hm. I thought so. You could never prove it. You could never say it. The three simple words that makes a man weak, delicious. You can't grasp commitment and the fact of the matter eats you up inside. You can never satisfy her. But I would be generous enough to cordially invite all of you to our wedding."

"Yuusuke..." Yosei began to whisper. "Don't falter to his words... be a man. Shikkari shite." Yuusuke glanced over to her. Suddenly, her words from before broke into his mind.

"_A real man would confess to everything his heart desires. That's the only way for him to see it. His powers will drain when both confess their love for each other. He finds on a woman's love but when she no longer lets him have it, when she loves another, he will die. Act like a man."_

That was it! He finally realized what he had to do, but he wished there weren't any spectators around to witness this...

"Stay out of this." Musubi warned her.

"Confess, mend her broken heart, and possibly yours too." Yosei continued.

"Insolence!" Musubi screamed ready to give the signal to Raicho so the thunderbird would crush its powerful jaws down on Gemmi.

"Keiko! Wake up! Aishiteru!" Yuusuke shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Nani?" Musubi glared down at the ReiKai Tantei.

"I LOVE YOU KEIKO!" Yuusuke blared out into the night air, his words echoing throughout the woods.

"Yuu-suke..." Keiko murmured beginning to stir from her own consciousness. "I... lov-"

"Baka!" Musubi's eyes flickered red. "Deploy now, Uwibami!"

All of a sudden, our three heroes realized they had walked right into an ambush as numerous Uwibami men emerged from out of the woods. Botan quickly strapped the confinement jar back on her back and Yosei began to build up her energy. Yuusuke on the other hand looked back to see that the tree on the waterfall had ripped its roots away and fused with Raicho. The bird began to ascend in air.

"Kuso! You coward! You don't got the balls to face me huh! Get back here! Temee!" Yuusuke began to sprint after the bird. He ran right to the wall of the cliff and began to climb up.

"Save your energy, detective." Musubi began as he made his getaway. "Keiko will be in good hands, I'm sure of it, she'll have a real good _time_, and you will be nothing more than a _memory_ to her. She'll be too lost in the _heat of passion_ to even remember your name. Now isn't that hospitality?" he began to laugh maniacally.

"If you even dare attempt to do ANYTHING like THAT I will-" Yuusuke began to climb even faster, his pride being hurt.

"You are in no position to threaten me, I'd worry about your friends, they really do need your help. But if you want to see Keiko one last time before we are _wed_, then come to the _Floating Bridge to Heaven_ at _Raiden prefecture_ on _Kaminari Sama _Mountain. I would say we would fight to the death for Keiko's heart but I clearly already won that! See you real soon, detective!" and with that, the Raicho flapped even higher into the air and disappeared into a storm of Sakura petals.

"Keiko!" Yuusuke fell to the ground, facing defeat.

"Iie! GEMMI!" Yosei tried to pursue them but too many Uwibami were overpowering her.

"Yuusuke, we need your help!" Botan shrieked, trying to get the confinement jar to aim straight but a Gel man kept moving it away as more toppled over her.

Yuusuke stood from off the ground, his head lowered. So much anger coursed through his veins, but he knew one thing, if Musubi harmed her in anyway, emotionally or physically, he would surely regret it. Yuusuke wiped the tears from his eyes and then glared up at the sky. "I'm coming for you Keiko... And I meant every word... I'll get you back, I'm tired of you being the victim, I hurt you too much... That bastard will die if he touches you, I swear it..." Yuusuke turned towards his teammates and rushed for them, all riled up now and ready for a fight. "Hey! ready for your ass-kicking!"

**Case six--- PENDING CLOSURE**

Japanese / English: Uso / you're kidding, Pin-Pin-chan / an affectionate name in Japanese meaning "Mr.  
Boing Boing" in reference to a young man's penis that is always on the verge of erection, shikkari shite / "be confident"

New name meanings: -Raicho: The Japanese Thunderbird. It looks like a rook, but can make a terrible noise, and it lives in a pine tree. Musubi is now able to create these destructive creatures as long as he has a sample of Gemmi's blood, which is why Musubi was only bluffing about killing Gemmi since he needs him so much. They are a means of destruction or transportation in the fic.

Kanzakura is the sacred Sakura tree in which Musubi no Kami lives. In the fic, Kazakura is Musubi's Sakura tree castle atop Raiden prefect.

The Floating Bridge to Heaven is well, the bridge to Heaven. It will be the final confrontation with Shazmee and Musubi. They are prepared to taint the gateway with blood from the one chosen for a sacrifice, in doing so, it will corrupt Heaven and purge it into darkness. This causing its forces to smite and lash out at the world, destroying every ReiKai Tantei and weakening the barriers of the stronger levels of Makai so that ReiKai will be destroyed.

Raiden is the Japanese God of thunder and lightning (Kaminari Sama). This is where Kanzakura and the Floating Bridge to Heaven are located.

Author's Note: This was done pretty fast so it may seem a little uneven compared to most of my other chapters. Notice how Botan didn't do her job and take Gemmi back to Jorge already! Oops. Well, please guys, comment and critique please. How can someone get better without help? And if you like the story please say so and say why you like it. Getting comments will inspire me to write more efficiently.

**Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator**


	13. Case Seven: No time for breaksKyoumi bac...

Narrator: Keiko is feeling the stings from the festival after she observed Yuusuke give all his time to the she-oni in disguise, Nanashi Nanashi. But Keiko's tranquillity is short-lived when strange noises are heard in her house-an intruder has broken in and took out her parents with ease. Keiko, and her Raiju in disguise, Gemmi, are captured by an Uwibami man and taken to the creator, Musubi no Kami. Yuusuke and the others arrive to save Keiko and Gemmi, finally meeting _one _of their opponents. The encounter is anything but welcoming as Musubi sends a charge of Uwibami men and makes his getaway-Keiko and Gemmi in tow. Yuusuke swears revenge and that he'll find a way to save Keiko by venturing to destination: _Floating Bridge to Heaven_ at _Raiden prefecture_ on_ Kaminari Sama _Mountain... if only Yuusuke knew how to get there that is.

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

**_Case Seven---_No time for breaks: Kyoumi's back in business**

Second day of Obon Week, Morning-

"Kyoumi knows not... What's a ticket?" an ebullient voice questioned.

"N-nani! Uso ne, onna!" One of the staff members at the gate stuttered disgruntled. He looked somewhat feeble dressed in the train station's uniform because he was rather old and trembled constantly when he talked. "A ticket is what you need to ride the shinkansen! 800 yen for each ticket!"

"Shinkansen? What's a _shin-kan-sen_? Is that what is making all this noise in this _underground village_?" the female brushed her blonde bangs away from her face to stare down at the elder with her gray eyes.

"What kind of joke is this? Underground city! This is a train station!" the old man was just about to lose it as passersby walked through additional gates just to get by the two that caught their eyes.

"And this train you speak of... it's a monster living in this station?" the _Aitofukiji _student brought her hand to her chin rather perplexed.

The senior groaned in frustration, he would possibly have a heart attack if Kyoumi wouldn't stop _playing around._ "My word! A train transports you from one station to another if you would want to avoid the crowd in the city!"

"So you need a ticket to get passed the monster? Or to calm the monster? So he can take Kyoumi to Mestra Genkai-sama!" the tanned girl clasped her hands together.

"What monster! Please lady, why did you have to come through my gate... I'm going to get fired for sure if the manager sees me not taking care of the situation!" The man's long mustache furrowed. He took off his uniform hat and rubbed his bald head. He soon noticed that Kyoumi had slipped right by him and was heading to one of the platforms. "Onna!"

The man caught up to her and grabbed her by the arm. "Oi, old man! Let Kyoumi go! _Jii-san_ said you would get _fired_ by the monster, so it proves Monster is evil because Monster wants to burn Jii-san. A monster rampaging in this concrete village will not go unpunished; of course Jii-san will have to give Kyoumi three bales of rice weed as payment. And could Jii-san have the hull already removed, such a tiresome job when one person does it alone."

"Rice as payment!" the elder began to stroke his mustache. "Well yes I think of my boss as a monster but-Hey wait a minute! I'm not your Jii-san! I have enough grandchildren, ERM! I've had enough of this, SECURITY!" The old man called but unfortunately an announcement had came on right when he called.

"Now arriving, now arriving... Tokaido shinkansen, nozomi category."

"A powerful being speaks!" Kyoumi hunched to the ground and became attentive of her surroundings.

"Powerful being? What powerful-WHA!" the old man was brought to his knees as Kyoumi pulled him down with her.

Kyoumi shushed at the man while onlookers stared at them befuddled. "Tokaido nears, I hear him!" she declared rather alarmed as the lights from the train were seen coming through the dark tunnel.

"Tokaido is the shinkan-"

The ground began to quake as the train emerged from the darkness.

"Tokaido dawns!" Kyoumi tensed up.

"Yeh, we know, you weirdo..." a man from the crowd droned.

"Kyoumi shall vanquish this evil in the name of onigiri, all depression causes the onigiri to taste bad!" the teenager pounced up from the ground and sprinted towards the train.

"That's it, I quit..." the old man sighed.

"Blue Flame-" Kyoumi gathered her ki in her left palm as a shackle embedded in her wrist began to emanate. She jumped at the train. "-Chain!"

A large crash exploded from the subway.

End Flashback-

"Damn this Ningenkai." Kyoumi was sitting on some very large stairs at the bottom of a shrine. "That Tokaido wasn't that much of a challenge but had a strange counter attack. And those people were anything but thankful, that thing was eating them... I don't believe I didn't even get paid, brown nosed for nothing... ugh."

She gazed up at the torii and clutched the bottom of the skirt of the school uniform she wore. That wasn't all about Ningenkai that annoyed her.

Another Flashback-

"Konnichi wa, what would your order be today?" the gleeful fast-food restaurant employee asked from behind the counter.

"What kind of edibles dwells in this... _Mack-Down-Olds_?" Kyoumi chewed on her index finger and held her stomach with her right hand. It growled wildly.

"Uhm... Excuse me, miss?" The female worker inquired a little frazzled.

"Kyoumi has never had Ningen food before... Do you have wild boar? Soak the entrails in _shirozake_ and can you add some chopped carrots inside that? Kyoumi can't digest meat that well without a portion of rice so maybe some rice too with sake poured on top." Kyoumi thought it over.

"Uh?" the woman was both petrified with confusion and flabbergasted.

"Then again, instead of shirozake, I would prefer if you boiled it in shochu." The fake Aitofukiji student suggested.

"Distilled liquor?" the employee felt a nerve about to pop.

"Here's your order, sir." Another female employee came to the side of the other one with a tray.

"Arigatou." The man took his tray but all of a sudden Kyoumi grabbed the contents on top.

"What's this?" the sixteen-year-old fiddled with the sandwich in her hand.

"My lunch!" The man growled badgered.

"That's a hamburger, miss." Both of the female workers said in unison. Kyoumi picked up one of the fries from off the man's tray. "And those are fries, would you like that order."

"What is inside these... frrries?" Kyoumi interrogated.

"I don't have time for this little girl, how naïve are you! Give me back my food! ERR, MANAGER!" the man was about to blow a gasket.

"Fries are made by soaking chopped potatoes in hot grease. The hamburger contains cow beef with cheese and your choice of onions, lettuce, or tomatoes. Ketchup and mustard and mayonnaise all can go on your hamburger, miss." The girls said in harmony once again.

"COW! With cheese! How can you kill such a sacred animal! Let alone add cheese with that! Any third-rate E-class youkai knows that if you eat a cow you will get a bad case of bloating and your eyes will get all puffy! How does that help you defend yourself! Disgusting!" Kyoumi dropped the hamburger on the floor as some customers began to quit eating-some were even vomiting up their digestion.

"AGH! What's wrong with this girl, are you not human!" The man backlashed.

"Nope." Kyoumi piped up.

"Well if you don't like that, ma'am, you can go across the street to the Pizzeria and order a pizza." The girls said a little pent-up.

"That abomination! Kyoumi almost blew chunks when she learned what they put into their food!" the young spring-hare youkai protested. "We shouldn't allow unhealthy food that shouldn't even be called food! Especially with some concoction called Catch-Up!"

"YEH!" someone cheered her on.

"You said it!" someone else joined in and all the customers began to riot inside the restaurant.

Through the screams and pushing, the two employees were able to _kindly_ escort Kyoumi out of the restaurant.

End Flashback-

Kyoumi stood from her seat and dusted off the back of her uniform. It was time for her to continue on with her _journey_ that she started ever since she left the Minamino household yesterday. She began to walk up the stairs that extended for practically a mile up the hill. The forest surrounding the stairs to the shrine had a pacific nature. Birds chirped and the wind rustled through the wispy trees. The sun was rather blinding and no clouds filled the air that afternoon.

Ningenkai was so amusing to Kyoumi, but she still saw it as a taxing world. Besides the fact that she didn't get anything to eat and already had to fight a mechanical monster, she really couldn't stand this interesting dimension. 'Seiiukaru...' Kyoumi touched the part of her collar that covered the choker on her neck. 'Why did you send me here... to this Hell!'

There were crowds and crowds of Ningenkai inhabitants all over the vast _villages_ that expanded far in length and width. They were quite aggressive as well; Kyoumi had been pushed, and even groped, a countless amount of times when she tried to navigate through the civilization. How could people live the way they did? They had to have made a compromise with those _mechanical monsters_ of the _frozen, gray rivers _just to get transported somewhere-they actually got into the bodies of those beasts! The air was polluted with gas from the monsters, so raunchy and full of a grimy stench. Kyoumi was just glad to be further out in the country when it came to this shrine.

There were no rice paddies or farms most of all in those massive villages-she couldn't eat anything that was _edible _and couldn't work for her food either. It was easy for her to just go from farm to farm and agree to make the crops grow since she was a Maiya youkai. But that would be going back to the same-old-same-old and she no longer wanted to walk back down that path. It was hard enough to witness what Seiiukaru had done until she found Yuusuke; it was such a detestable sight that Kyoumi had to endure. She had to sit idly by as Seiiukaru took over her consciousness and came across any youkai otoko, or even any ningen otoko, and allow them to violate her in any way possible. Those were the kinds of visions that plagued Kyoumi's dreams at night. They would stay with her for the rest of her days and Seiiukaru just loved to torment her in anyway.

"Mestra Genkai-sama!" Kyoumi called out as she bounded up the last flight of stairs. She glanced around with a joyous grin that broke out over her face. 'Now this is a sight worth seeing, much more pleasant than the world of Ningenkai.'

The shrine was hefty in size and expanded outward quite a bit. It was everything the Ningen world could never be. It was peaceful and genuine, a feel of sophisticated justice and had nothing to do with greasy food, mechanical creations, or misshapen bathrooms-how exactly do you pee in those!

Kyoumi, even though she was sixteen, jogged up to the shrine deck like a little kid. Her entire upper body lay over the deck with her hands holding her up while her feet were sprawled out behind her and wobbling around. "Mestra Genkai-sama? _Tori-Gomoku_?"

Her calls were unanswered. It was as if there was a devoid of any signs of life.

Kyoumi kicked off the blue clogging shoes on her feet and proceeded to look around in her black nylons. She got up on deck and wandered around. Her footsteps 'thumped' around on the surface as she finally heard signs of life. She rounded the corner to see Genkai, the elderly, yet still full of pep, woman who owned the shrine, speaking with some visitors. They shared their bow of respect and the visitors retreated. It was a young couple that looked extremely happily together as they shared a kiss and passed by Kyoumi.

Once they were gone, Kyoumi was alone with Genkai. She bowed and said, "Ohayo, Mestra Genkai-sama."

Genkai took a drag on her cigarette and turned toward Kyoumi. She puffed clouds of smoke into the air and said, "What do you want now, girl?"

"I've came for my Oi." Kyoumi stepped forward. "That's all, just that, I won't bother you again."

Genkai blew smoke rings. "Don't lie through your teeth, girl. If you're leaving just as soon, do you think you can take your _friend_ with you?" the old woman asked rather peeved. "He seriously can't cook worth crap."

Kyoumi chuckled. "Where is Tori-Gomoku, anyway?"

"Where else, probably burning lunch." Genkai flicked her cigarette away and headed for the door of her shrine. "This way, but I'm sure you already know where to go..."

"Arigatou, Mestra Genkai-sama." The teenager followed after her. Ever since Kyoumi had met Genkai through Kombu two years ago, she had used Genkai's home as her own ever since. Genkai knew Kyoumi all to well, mainly because of the way Kombu acted around her, he would tell Genkai everything about his little fascination with her. She kept Genkai close to her and looked up to the experienced woman like a mentor but she wouldn't go as far as to being Genkai's successor or anything like that. The world was too vast for Kyoumi, she had too many dreams she wanted to live and being stuck here would just weigh her down. She rather do her training on her own, that's just how it has been ever since she became an orphan anyway, she didn't care.

Genkai slid open the door to the living area but as soon as she did, a wave of smog emerged from the inside and filled the corridor.

"Genkai, Genkai!" A masculine voice came from within the smoke and jumped out to the two and fell on Kyoumi. The man was around twenty and was quite irresistible to boot. His hair was pale green and very lengthy-it went up in bunches at the top and then dropped down to his waist. Two, droppy ponytails on the side of his head hung loosely and hid his floppy, spring-hare ears. He was dressed in the temple's robes and his bangs shielded his eyes. "Kyuu-chan..."

"Tori-kun..." Kyoumi cast her gaze down at him. He reminded her so much of _him_... Maybe just because they looked so much alike.

"Baka, once again I'm cleaning up your mess!" Genkai brought her hands forward as a gust of wind surrounded her and shot into the room. The gale whirled about the room and began to clear it out. Soon the smoke had ascended out through the large window in the room and you could now see what Tori-Gomoku had been cooking. "What's that suppose to be?"

In a singed pot next to the rice cooker was burnt rice with the red peppers and soy-bean paste mixed together. The seaweed strips were practically a yard long and bundled up in the pot with the rice cooker-it was just about to simmer. Ingredients were all over the floor and some things that Tori-Gomoku didn't even need to put in his... whatever they were.

Tori-Gomoku helped Kyoumi up from off the ground. "It was an attempt at making Mentaiko and Negimiso but obviously I'm nowhere near as skilled as you, Kyuu-chan, the master... I added my own perfection to it as well to make it taste a whole lot better. I would say it is decent enough! Mechakucha!"

Genkai stared down at the dish a little uneasy. She picked up a rice ball-more like just a flat, smashed up rice square with the ingredients not even covered all the way-and took a bite. As soon as the concoction hit her lips she was ready to throw it all back up. It was so hard to swallow such a catastrophe.

The master turned toward Tori-Gomoku at once. "Mazui! Boy! This just about knocked off a few years of my life! How much soy-bean paste did you use! It's not even cooked all the way, and that taste nothing like leek!"

"That's because it isn't, leeks are so nasty, they don't give it a good taste. I added chocolate syrup to that one and mayonnaise to the other... or did I add mayonnaise and syrup to both? Well I do know that one of them contains strawberries... or vinegar... or spinach!" Tori-Gomoku smiled triumphantly.

Genkai was ready to heave up her own insides now, maybe it was best if she didn't know what was in it after all. "Girl, show him how it's done. How to make real rice balls."

Kyoumi bowed and kneeled over to where the pit stove was. She began to clear out the area as Tori-Gomoku began to clean up the room. Kyoumi disposed of all the rice whatever-they-weres and found some fresh rice and ingredients in the pantry. She sat all her ingredients around the pit stove and was ready to work.

"Boy, get out the table and some cushions." Genkai instructed. "And bring me my pack of cigarettes."

"Hai, Genkai." Tori-Gomoku left the room for a brief moment.

"And the cups and teapot!" Genkai shouted loud enough so he could hear her other request. "Ugh, a lost cause he can be at times..."

"Then why do you allow him to stay? Why put up with such a hassle? You always kick me out after at least a week if I stayed yet he's been here ever since you took over the shrine and that's pretty much a long time." Kyoumi wondered as she added the rice to the cooker.

"What, do you want me to nurse you all the time? I thought you hate it when it feels like you are clingy? Besides, he insists that I am his only means of enlightenment. He cleans up the place sufficiently, however..."

"His cooking tastes like dishwater though..." Kyoumi giggled. She picked up the knife next to a chopping board and began to slice pieces of salmon and leeks. "I'm surprised you haven't died from food poisoning yet."

"Furthermore, I promised his brother I would take care of him..." Genkai plucked a sensitive chord.

Kyoumi just about chopped off her finger as she halted with her movements.

"That's always like the kid, looking out for his younger brother no matter what. Both of them being born six minutes and six seconds past six o'clock, it surprises me how since they are both twins. And when Kombu always came here he would only request good praise for his brother and a blessing for himself. But when he came with you for the first time, he no longer wanted a blessing because you were all he needed. His blessing." Genkai spoke with a sign of compassion in her voice.

"Genkai-sama...?" Kyoumi felt all too dizzy when she thought of Kombu.

The sympathetic Genkai soon died off, "Then he goes off and gets himself offed with a huge debt to his name that he would never pay because he always brought trouble here that wrecked my shrine. He was bound to be ambushed sooner or later; getting mixed up with a _man _like that. To top it all off he leaves two of his loved ones effected the most by his death. He didn't understand what his actions meant, that's the way he operates. Does anything to get out of trouble. Let's cut the sentimental crap, the rice-balls aren't going to make themselves."

Kyoumi snapped back to reality.

"But let's not talk wrongly about the dead. Rest in peace, Kombu." Genkai nodded her head as Tori-Gomoku returned carrying a large, round wooden table. He sat it next to Genkai and then brought out three small futon pillows that he placed around the table.

"Here, Genkai." Tori-Gomoku presented her with her pack of cigarettes as she took her place at the table. He sat at the futon next to her.

"Tori-kun... You had the leek mixed up with the cod roe." Kyoumi scolded. She sprinkled salt on some saran wrap that she had covered over a plate and added two-thirds of the cooked rice on it.

"So I'm not a omusubi person..." Tori-Gomoku shrugged his shoulders and laid down on the tatami. Kyoumi added the filling on top of the rice and then added one-third of some more rice onto the top of that.

"You're not a food person, simple as that, you shouldn't be allowed to cook." Genkai nagged. "Where's the tea, boy?"

"Oh yeh! The tea!" Tori-Gomoku jerked himself up and dashed out of the room-he almost turned the table upside down.

Both Kyoumi and Genkai sighed, "Hopeless..."

Later on-

The room of the living quarters bellowed with laughter. Tori-Gomoku was laughing the most as Kyoumi giggled along side him, Genkai chuckled lightly to herself.

"Seriously, I'd give them a week." Tori-Gomoku brought up the teapot, "More sake, Master?"

Genkai nodded and butted out her cigarette in the ashtray beside her. Once her cup was filled she instantly downed the contents.

Kyoumi fanned the onigiri she had made because the room was filled with the smell of smoke from Genkai's cigarette as it mingled with the smoke of the cooking rice. Tori-Gomoku went back to talking about the couple that had came to the shrine earlier.

"I mean come on, the girl wasn't all that good-looking but the guy was scrumptious." Tori-Gomoku poured some tea from the pot directly into his mouth. "Bet I could have him, just give me an hour and he's mine."

"This is what I put up with everyday, this baka checking out the visitors." Genkai chewed on one of the rice crackers that were brought out as an appetizer.

"At least the place is lively, especially with that... what was it? Game room in the back." Kyoumi had sat their lunch on three trays and brought it over to the table. She took her place and passed out the trays. "Here you go, Genkai-sama, one with tuna, three with broiled beef and pork, and one corned beef."

"Arigatou, Kyuu-chan." Genkai finished off her cracker and began to eat her rice balls promptly.

"You saw him, Kyuu-chan. How would you rate him? Would you be quick to sleep with such a fellow?" Tori-Gomoku nibbled on three rice crackers at the same time.

"He is fair... just fair. I wouldn't sleep with him though..." Kyoumi thought about it.

"Oh! So there is someone already in your life now?" Tori-Gomoku edged over.

"Iie!" Kyoumi insisted.

"Like she could find anyone to replace your pig-headed brother, beast in the sack wasn't he?" Genkai mocked.

"G-Genkai-sama!" Kyoumi couldn't believe Genkai just said that, too much sake.

"I don't want to know about what my brother did behind closed doors, arigatou." Tori-Gomoku looked down at Kyoumi's rice-balls. "One of those is a _Kombu_ isn't it?"

Kyoumi blushed.

"One of them? You mean all of them." Genkai corrected.

Kyoumi quickly took a sip from her mug.

"So Kyoumi really loves to _taste_ Kombu all in her mouth..." Tori-Gomoku sneered sarcastically.

The young girl choked on her tea as Genkai and Tori-Gomoku howled with laughter.

Kyoumi shoved a plate of rice-balls at Tori-Gomoku. "Here, they're all Tori-Gomoku so you can have fun eating out yourself!" she retorted. Now it was Genkai and Kyoumi's turn to howl with laughter.

Tori-Gomoku smirked, "Oh, quite snappy are we? What about you, Master... Would you sleep with that guy or choose the girl, I saw how you were looking at her." All of a sudden, Genkai's cup went flying across the table and clonked Tori-Gomoku right on the head. He passed out.

Kyoumi giggled, it was times like these that were most memorable to Kyoumi... if only Kombu were still around...

Soon enough-

Tori-Gomoku was instructed to retrieve Kyoumi's original attire while he put up the utensils and table they used for lunch. Kyoumi helped him.

Kyoumi was putting the futons back up in the closet located on the outside of the shrine. Tori-Gomoku sat the table down on the deck and continued to walk forward. "I'll get your clothes, Kyuu-chan."

Kyoumi nodded and he left her on the deck for a moment.

It was a good day indeed. Despite having to venture through the world of Ningenkai alone this morning, she thought the reward of coming here made up for it. Tori-Gomoku was a crackup and Genkai was simply a wonderful hostess. Kombu always looked out for them all despite Genkai believing he would make a getaway at any sign of a threat. Tori-Gomoku was a Maiya youkai yes but unfortunately he never perfected his powers on nature. Instead of controlling crops, he was able to control the actions of people. Most of the time his abilities didn't work as well which is why Kombu protected him. They resembled each other so much, not physically because they are twins, but their personalities were almost identical. The real difference only being that Kombu had his eye for only one girl in his life while Tori-Gomoku was rather loose and had no limit of the number of partners he obtained.

"Here you are, Kyuu-chan." Tori-Gomoku presented her with her wares. "And there's a bathhouse around back so you can go change."

Kyoumi accepted her garments but couldn't find the willpower to leave Tori-Gomoku.

"It's good to have you back." He rubbed his toes into the floorboard of the deck.

"I won't be staying long." Kyoumi gestured and began to walk off but Tori-Gomoku grabbed her by the arm.

"What are you planning to do? Your place is here, not gallivanting with wild youkai men. You're going to wind up getting caught up into someone else's mess again. Can't you see that?" Tori-Gomoku became rather strict.

"Well that's how I met Kombu wasn't it? Besides, maybe... I might meet someone new... someone worth meeting..."

"What are you planning to do? You believe it is lively when you are away but it isn't. Genkai is running out of time. Don't you want to spend her remaining years with her! I miss you most of all, checking out the guys isn't worthwhile when you aren't around."

Kyoumi's eyelids grew heavy as she gazed at Tori-Gomoku. "Stop acting like Kombu..." she shook her hand free from his grasp. "Besides, I have my own problems that I need to fix." She stepped closer to him and got up on her toes-Kyoumi quickly pecked him on the cheek and then began to head for the bathhouse. "I need to figure out the history of Hell's Erotic Bond, I need to find Kombu's killer, I promised revenge, unlike you, I'm working to get where I need to be. Working to be free"

Tori-Gomoku shifted his weight from foot to foot and stifled a laugh. "Iie, Kyuu-chan, why are you the kind of person that waits for the _train_... You are always waiting for something to happen, you just go with any endeavor. You have no set destination, what ever arises you just go with it..."

"I've had enough trains for the rest of my life." Kyoumi grumbled.

With Genkai-

A blur of red and gray swooshed by the entrance door of the shrine just as Genkai came out to fetch Kyoumi's Oi.

The elderly woman's eyes turned to slits as she became tense. 'I sense a faint ki nearby. A reek of youkai all over." Genkai rushed down the deck and followed the scent. She rounded the corner and came to the koi pond, where the scent faded and Kyoumi's Oi lay. A purple aura surrounded the straw backpack and soon shimmered away from the bag.

It was silent as an eerie wind shrouded the area.

"I'm tired of him harassing my shrine, show yourself, _Yama no Kami_..."

With Kyoumi, in the bathhouse-

It was good to be out of that constricting Aitofukiji uniform-she was sick of seeing her outie bellybutton, which could be seen too easily through the shirt, and her diminutive breasts, which were easily portrayed through the shirt as well. The skirt was too high on her, her large hips being the cause. Yet Kyoumi felt rather free standing in the small bathing area with its grand tub made of pewter, this was how a 'washroom' should be. Not something that has various items and countless doors to it like in most Ningen houses--Kurama's for example.

She looked over her bare body still wrapped in a few bandages. All this damage was Seiiukaru's fault, if only she knew how to get rid of the necklace around her neck. Genkai would know how...

Kyoumi brought up her kimono style apparel. The upper part resembled a sleeveless kimono but the bottom part only had a front part that was cut into slits on the side. There was no back to the bottom half, if you didn't include the attached bikini-bottom like garment. She put on her pale orange attire and her knee-high rubber socks and sandals. She then proceeded to putting on her woolen gauntlets that extended up to her shoulders where the sleeves cut off. Kyoumi really didn't like showing too much of her skin, mainly because of all the blemishes and scars on her arms, legs, and abdomen. These were permanent marks that have been on her body ever since she bonded with Seiiukaru. A price to pay because she knew that any man who would look upon her body would just be disgusted-not to mention she didn't have the best figure anyway. Her legs were too bulgy because of the well-toned muscles in them and her upper frame looked too "dainty". She sighed and left the bathhouse.


	14. Case Seven Continuation

"Genkai?" Tori-Gomoku came looking for his master around the koi pound but for some unknown reason she had dispersed out into the forest somewhere. 'Wonder what set her off to run into the forest all of a sudden.' The handsome man looked down by one of the rocks of the pond to see Kyoumi's Oi. "Hm? Genkai was suppose to give that to Kyuu-chan... I'll do it, I always wind up doing something." Tori-Gomoku reached for it.

"Don't touch that, boy!" Genkai's blared out from the forest but soon her voice was muffled.

"Huh?" It was too late, as soon as the man's fingertips traced over the straw, a bright light began to emit from it. All of a sudden, Tori-Gomoku was hurled back into a post on the shrine as the Oi floated up into the air. Birdlike, green talons sprouted from the bottom of the Oi and a grotesque demonlike head emerged from the top. **OI NO BAKEMONO**

"Nani!" Tori-Gomoku's ivory eyes, seen for the first time, shone through his bangs and were filled with terror.

The being began to snort fire from its nostrils and gaped open its mouth to reveal its rotting fangs. It spurted for the cowering male, ready to take him out in one swoop.

"Surf of the Blue Flame!" The twenty-seven inch long sickle from Kyoumi's wrist whirled at the monster like a boomerang and thrashed it right between the eyes. The monster was launched off into the distance by the blade.

"Kyuu-chan." Kyoumi helped Tori-Gomoku off the floor this time.

"What the HELL happened to my Oi!" Kyoumi said just in time before she was knocked away by a fireball.

"Kyuu-chan!" Tori-Gomoku watched as Kyoumi was slung into a tree and the fireball deteriorated into the air.

Her upper torso was singed and parts of her sash that went around her waist to hold up her kimono was peeling off. Kyoumi flipped her blonde hair out of her face and got back up. "Naguru zo!"

The Bakemono was perched on the roof and snarled embers of fire out of his nose. It leaped from its position and had its claws fixed on Kyoumi. The sixteen-year-old wasn't just going to stand there and take a beating, especially not by her own luggage!

Kyoumi jumped at it as well and just when both of the combatants were about to collide, Kyoumi thrust her left foot forward as it made contact with the creature's face. The Bakemono twirled in air and hit the ground hard.

"Kyuu-chan, Kyuu-chan, Go! Go! Go!" Tori-Gomoku was cheering for Kyoumi and waved around fans with the Japanese red sun symbol on them.

"Heh, arigatou." Kyoumi had her right hand behind her head with a look of domination as she touched solid ground again. Kyoumi had let her haughtiness go to her head. With her being too arrogant because of the praise she received, the Oni no Bakemono used this to his advantage.

"Wvaaar!" The Bakemono jerked up from the ground and was now in a mad dash for Kyoumi once again. This time his head had headbutted her right in the stomach and slung her up into the air.

"Gah!" Kyoumi went pretty high up as her back arched inward even more. She was feeling the stings once again from her previous injuries and felt weaker and weaker. Her momentum upward began to decrease as she began to fall back down to the earth again where the Bakemono was waiting.

The creature opened its jaws extremely wide so you could see the immense fireball forming inside. Kyoumi wasn't going to make a costly mistake, at least not this time. She regained her poise and felt an onrush of energy coarse through her veins. Just before she fell on the monster she completely froze her position! But she didn't stay suspended in air for long, or she would've been a perfect target for the Bakemono's fireball. Her entire body floated backward right when the fireball shot into the air.

"I've had enough of this, kora!" Kyoumi, still hovering in air, reached in the folds of her kimono and brought out a... rice-ball! It began to glow a bright red in her palm. "Now to educate you in Kome Ken, the _Everything Goes Kome Arts Style_!" The Bakemono egged her on with a growl. "You asked for it!" Kyoumi winded up her arm as if she were a pitcher in a baseball game. She let lose the blazing rice-ball. It whirled toward the monster until it was as big as a melon from his point-of-view and without warning, the ball blew up! **ONIGIRI BOMB**

"Hah! This battle's won... huh!" Kyoumi watched as the red smoke cleared and the monster was still alive. Impossible! His head should've been ripped clear off! He had to have had some sort of weakness, furthermore, she wondered what had tainted her Oi in the first place. There had to be a good reason behind it because this never happened before. 'I need to distract him right quick.'

"Fwaa!" the creation began to run for Kyoumi once again but this time she was ready for it. She brought out another rice-ball but this time it was glowing yellow. She threw it right between her feet as a smog of yellow gas engulfed the scene. **ONIGIRI DECOY**

It cleared to show a Kyoumi with yellow skin! This obviously being the fake. The yellow-skinned Kyoumi danced about and took off around the shrine, the Bakemono closely behind.

"Good, that buys me some time." Kyoumi began to think over the situation, she was standing next to Tori-Gomoku.

"Coward..." The man ridiculed jokingly. Kyoumi whacked him in the back of his head.

"You! Come on, you would know this! You know everything about... EVERYTHING! That's why you're here right? To study all these Ningen creatures and apparitions! What do you know about a Bakemono!" Kyoumi shook him by the upper part of his temple robe.

"Hm... Oi no Bakemono... They're created when a tainted piece of straw is used in the weaving of the Oi..." Tori-Gomoku thought over it.

"But it wasn't like this before... a week since I've been here, did anyone touch that Oi since I left?" Kyoumi demanded. Tori-Gomoku shook his head in a no. "Someone attached it to it then! Grr, I hate when someone messes with my things!"

A yellow fog of smoke escalated into the air from behind the shrine, the Bakemono must have caught up with the fake already. This was Kyoumi's chance.

The Bakemono was enraged now and was heading for the two on the deck once he rounded the corner. Kyoumi, using her quick wit, grabbed Tori-Gomoku by the arm and flung him at the monster.

"HEY!" Tori-Gomoku yelled as he hit the being and both of them fell over. Kyoumi jumped off the deck and sprinted closer to a big elm tree by the forest. The Bakemono, not caring about Tori-Gomoku at all, got up from the ground and scrambled after her. "Why am I always the victim?"

Kyoumi backed up against the tree and it looked as if the monster cornered her once and for all. "Oh no, please, spare me... hehe, not!" She hopped up and somersaulted over the monster. "Blue Flame Chain!" Kyoumi shot her blue ki sickle in midair at the creature. It sliced right into its forehead and stuck it to the tree. The monster struggled to get free but to no avail.

Kyoumi recoiled her fighting stance and wiped the sweat from off her brow. "Phew, that was a nice workout, now to find that cursed straw. Hm, let's see." She walked up to the Bakemono and looked it over. "Eck, such an ugly thing." Tori-Gomoku joined her at her side. "Ah-ha, found it, found it." Kyoumi tugged on the purple straw pulsing with power located on the bottom of her Oi. Once she completely dismembered it from the other straws, Kyoumi used her energy to override the tainted straw and it burst into dust.

"WVAH!" The Bakemono screamed it's last scream as the fire-breathing head and the buzzard talons vanished. Kyoumi's Oi fell to the ground, the contents inside rustling around.

"Finally..."Tori-Gomoku gasped in relief. "That's the third time in a week..."

"Third time? This happened before?" Kyoumi hugged her straw backpack close to her.

"Four mornings ago, we had a rush of visitors to the shrine and I guess this _Kyuuketsuki _thought it was an easy deal. Sucked the ki out of about twenty people. Resembled a _she-bat_, she got away unfortunately... Then, the first day you came to drop off your Oi, a gel man attacked us as well. Genkai easily took care of both accounts thanks to her Reikou Hadou Ken, but the person behind these attacks is unknown to me yet I bet Genkai is holding out on me and already knows. Hey, where is she anyway?"

Kyoumi thought over the situation. "Is that so? Hm... I forgot that Genkai-sama's principles focus mainly around Ryou, Ei, Shu, Sen, and Gi... So she'll be okay wherever she ran off to... Huh?"

On cue with Kyoumi's words, Genkai staggered out of the forest looking pretty battered-her clothes were ripped in various places and smudges were on her face.

"Mestra Genkai-sama!" Kyoumi looked at her superior with shock.

"What happened? Are you quite all right?" Tori-Gomoku ran to her side and checked to see if she wasn't badly injured.

Genkai popped a lit cigarette into her mouth.

"Guess she is all right if she can still smoke." Tori-Gomoku snorted.

"Shut up, boy, this is no time for joking around. Kyoumi, what kind of trouble have you gotten into now?" Genkai glared over towards the other female.

"Eh?" Kyoumi looked at Genkai a little dumbfounded.

"Don't play stupid! All week my shrine has been attacked by your little _friend_ Yama!" Genkai snapped.

"N-Nan..." Kyoumi's eyes became saucers once she heard that name. "Unbelievable! You fought him didn't you! Where is he now!"

"He's been looking for you in particular. Trying to force you out by getting at us. I suggest you fix whatever crap you have with him because I'm tired of getting hassled." Genkai began to walk back to her shrine.

"I don't believe this... It's already time... I'll finally get my revenge..." Kyoumi ran her fingers through her hair.

"Who is Yama?" Tori-Gomoku's eyebrows furrowed. "Just want to know so I can hate him too..."

"Kombu's murderer..." Kyoumi murmured.

"Nani!" Tori-Gomoku grew serious but soon reverted back to his old ways, "Is he cute?"

Kyoumi ignored the comment, she was too busy lost in thought. She knew there was no way she could take on Yama by herself if he was after her. If he had such creatures at his disposal she would certainly be walking into a trap. At least if she had a comrade or two she would have someone to watch her back. And she already had the perfect candidates since Tori-Gomoku was out of the question--he would probably just hit on the culprit. It was time to make a house call to a certain Reikai Tantei and _traitor_ that she really didn't feel like seeing again. An image of the redhead flooded her mind. "Eh, stupid perfect youko... It's time for me to go back..."

Tori-Gomoku beamed with excitement, "Good, I'll pack you a lunch!"

**Case seven--- PENDING CLOSURE **

Japanese / English: shinkansen / bullet train, Jii-san / Grandpa, nozomi / fastest running train that leaves Tokyo and heads to Osaka (it stops at no other stations), mestra / master, mazui / disgusting, mechakucha / "it's pretty fucking good", Negimiso / rice ball filled with chopped leek and soy-bean paste, Mentaiko / rice ball filled with soaked cod roe and hot red pepper, nagura zo (nagurito basa zo) / I'm going to beat the shit out of you, kome / rice, Reikou Hadou Ken / Spirit wave style, Ryou / Healing, Ei / Defense, Shu / Discipline, Sen / Magic, Gi / Skill

New name meanings: -Tori-Gomoku is a type of rice ball filled with chicken and vegetables. Tori-Gomoku is the twin brother of Kombu and tends to flirt with any tantalizing guy (he is in fact a homosexual). He has the ability to control the body of a person and make them do whatever he pleases--which can prove to be good thing for him at times. The sad part is he can't cook worth crap.

Kyuu-chan is Tori-Gomoku's name for Kyoumi. 'Kyuu' meaning 'nine' because that's how many times Kyoumi makes rice-balls a day (about 40 per serving).

Oi no Bakemono is a monster that emerges from an Oi (Japanese traditional straw backpack) if the straw used to make the Oi used to be cursed. The monster sprouts talons and a demon head from the Oi and it will breathe fire. When Kyoumi tries to retrieve her Oi from Tori-Gomoku, she finds out that a cursed piece of straw was attached to it and this is the result.

Kome Ken is Kyoumi's form of fighting. The Rice Style.

Yama no Kami is the Japanese goddess of the hunt, forest, agriculture, and vegetation. Yama in the story is a boy and brother to Musubi. He dresses quite feminine though and has a rather incest nature. He is able to create illusions and locate anyone in an instant since he is such a brutal, yet skilled, hunter.

Author's Note: Notice how Kyoumi only speaks in third-person when she talks to strangers or if she is playing around. YAY! We finally get to see Kyoumi's mad rice-ball skills! Well, please guys, comment and critique please. How can someone get better without help? And if you like the story please say so and say why you like it. Getting comments will inspire me to write more efficiently.

**Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator**


	15. Case Eight: Requiting Love and Two Unwan...

Narrator: We finally see where Kyoumi has ran off to. After surviving the morning in Ningenkai, Kyoumi ventures towards a shrine owned by Genkai, proprietor of the Spirit Wave Style, where her belongings are contained. There we find out a little more of her past and meet Tori-Gomoku, brother of her lost love. After catching up on some quality time with Genkai and Tori-Gomoku, Kyoumi is ready to continue her mission—seek out the killer of Kombu. But she is stalled in her pursuit by Yama no Kami's tactics. She easily takes down the challenge and realizes what needs to be done: She must return to Yuusuke and Kurama to request their help, but will she make it there in time before they set off for their own journey?

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

**_Case Eight---_Requiting Love and Two Unexpected Guests**

Third day of Obon Week, Morning, 8:00 A.M.-

"I should have made Botan take him back when we had the chance, I'm so sorry, Yuusuke... I didn't mean for this to happen, I didn't mean for you, or your Keiko, to get involved..." Yosei, fully clad in her human form but still wearing her tiger-skin garments, huddled to the ground and wept into her palms.

Yuusuke kneeled down beside her and rubbed her shoulders. He never knew she could act this way, he never knew her emotions would overcome her like this especially when she had instructed Yuusuke to act like a man previously. "Cut it out. I was already involved in this before you or that thunder demon came into the picture. It's just how I attract attention, one disaster after another. And besides, she's not _my _Keiko, we're just _friends_..."

"But you said you loved her, you went through great lengths for her, you don't just do that with any friend..." Yosei wiped her eyes dry.

A vision of Kuwabara filled his head, 'Okay, maybe she's right...' Yuusuke sighed, he couldn't get around it no matter what. This is why he didn't want anyone to be around if he were to confess his love for someone since it would come back at him like this. He just tried anything to avoid confrontation. "Quit crying like a baby and will ya' put some clothes on for Pete's sake?" the Reikai Tantei took off his jean jacket and handed it over to the shiko-me in disguise.

Yosei stood up from the pavement and put on the jacket. "Gomen..." she sniffled.

"I think it is quite all right... I just feel awful that I wasn't there to prove a use to you. It's a terrible loss especially when a mother is separated from her child. I for one couldn't bear such a thing if I were in your position. You remind me of my own Okaasan, she risked her own arms to protect me when I was little. A mother will do anything to keep their child safe. The love of a mother is an unbreakable bond." Kurama coaxed the fake teacher. He had been leaning on a lamp post on the corner the group of three had been standing on. He felt the tremendous ki of Musubi when it first broke out and decided to seek out Yuusuke.

Yosei nodded.

"Too bad all our mothers aren't that noble..." Yuusuke thought of his own mother probably going through her third hangover for the morning. He shook his head of the thought and said, "So Kurama, you coming with us to this Bridge?"

Kurama fixed his emerald eyes on Yuusuke. "Certainly, this situation could have happened to me as well. My Okaasan could've been targeted just like Maya Kitajima-san had been. Maya especially has been through so much, she is still recovering in the hospital, ever since that impostor captured her she went into total shock. Instead of Keiko, it could've been Maya. I wish I knew why this youkai targeted them in such a way..."

Yosei clenched her fists. "Then I suggest we get going—"

"Iie... not you." Yuusuke declared.

"Nani!" Yosei turned to him. "It's as much my fight as it is—"

"Don't you think you've had enough!" Yuusuke shouted at her as she quieted. "You shouldn't have to go through such crud. I consider you my client, this is my mission. I'm the detective here, I'll take care of it."

Kurama and Yosei were surprisingly silent at what Yuusuke had just announced.

"That's the most sense I ever heard you make as of yet." Yosei gave a weak smile.

"And it might be for the best. You can protect Maya, just in case the Uwibami creatures go after her again... I don't see why since I believe that _I_ am their target and I'll be with Yuusuke but nonetheless better to be cautious..." Kurama suggested.

"H... Hai." Yosei said somewhat frail.

"Ohayo minna-san!" Botan waved from above as she zoomed in on her oar.

"Hey Botan, just where did you run off to?" Yuusuke asked but soon he noticed it was self-explanatory when he saw a familiar half-human, half-wombat at her side in a cage. "Oh no..."

"Howdy muffin!" Yasha waved as her miniature lion's tail stood on end.

"Muffin?" Kurama blinked.

"Yasha?" Yosei picked up the cage and peered at the little spy.

"Howdy, Saotome-san." Yasha bowed.

"It's okay, you can release her, she won't go anywhere I promise." Yosei insisted.

"Okey dokey." Botan responded as she opened up the cage and Yasha flew out.

The bat flipped her black hair about and stretched out. "Feels good, finally got some room." She then perched on Yosei's shoulder.

"So what gives, what do we need her for?" Yuusuke grumbled at Botan.

"Yuusuke, do you know where the Floating Bridge is?" Botan asked a little superciliously.

"Naw..." Yuusuke saw where this was going.

"Well Yasha does. Congratulations, Yasha, welcome to the team!" Botan giggled.

Yuusuke sighed. Yasha fluttered over to his shoulder now and took her place there.

Botan had a look of worry on her face all of a sudden, "But there is one thing... are you sure you want to rescue Keiko and Gemmi now? I mean, Yofune Nushi is still—"

"I'll take care of it when we get back, no prob'. Saving Keiko will take a day at the least." Yuusuke shook his head knowingly.

"Yah still 'aven't accomplished that dere mission ah gave ya'?" Yasha glared down at Yuusuke. "Shows 'ow useful a Bishonen detective can be..."

"Get off my back! Hey how about we go now, we're wasting time, who knows what that bastard could be doing to Keiko! And I'm going to stop that wedding! No way is Keiko getting married to anyone!" Yuusuke demanded, getting a tad bit annoyed.

"Except you..." Botan murmured with a giggle while Yuusuke shot a glare at her.

"Yeh... You guys better hurry off..." Yosei held her head down, she still felt useless to them all.

Botan saw how the shiko-me was feeling. She placed her own hands on the older woman's shoulders. "I have an idea, why don't you go tell Yuusuke's and Kurama's mothers about them leaving before you go watch over Maya? Maybe you could tell even Keiko's parents that the situation is under control and that they'll have their daughter back in no time?"

"No need, I already informed my Okaasan of my plan. As far as she knows, I'm staying over at a friend's for the time being." Kurama notified them.

"And I took care of that too... Well I didn't actually tell my mom, she wouldn't really care anyway if I'm gone for a day or two. But Keiko's parents know she'll be in good hands, I can guarantee that much." Yuusuke folded his arms.

"Well sorry to hold you guys up..." Yosei felt unwanted again. "I'll head over to the hospital once I'm changed. Take care... Bring Gemmi back safely..."

"Yah can count on me, Saotome-san!" Yasha waved good-bye and huddled up closer to Yuusuke.

Botan, Kurama, Yuusuke, and Yasha headed out and left Yosei alone under the streetlight. It was a while before she decide to take off in the opposite direction when she no longer saw them in her sights. If they fail then... then Yosei wouldn't know what to do... What would Jorge think? A depressing pang formed at the pit of her stomach as she basked in the morning light, her hopes lying on the whim of Yuusuke now.

Yukimura Diner, Noon-

Mrs. Yukimura was crying in her spouse's chest as she sat on the floor of the diner. Over and over she screamed her daughter's name. Her husband sat beside her and tried to comfort her.

"Shh, shh... It's okay... She'll be okay..." Mr. Yukimura buried his face into her hair.

"Oh Keiko!" his wife's continuation of whines did not cease. "Omae! What do we do! I feel useless! Keiko's out there somewhere and who knows what is happening to her!"

"Shh... Little Yuusuke has already promised he would bring her back, don't lose your reassurance. Believe he can do it and just hope for the best. He'll return her to us, he'll protect her." Mr. Yukimura hugged his wife even tighter, the note in his hand fell to the floor beside them.

_-Mr. & Mrs. Yukimura, I'll bring her back to you. She'll be with us again in no time... -Yuusuke_

Meiou District, 5:00 P.M.-

I leaped from rooftop to rooftop stealthily, trying to remember which house was _his_. I couldn't conceive, that after being judged by the council, they would let me off with only a warning. But they did advise me that if I were to actually aid that pitiful Reikai Tantei in a mission of his own then they would drop all my previous convictions and let me remain on parole. Hmph. Me? Actually being a subject to voyeurism... Playing the card of a noble, good-hearted hero... It wasn't anything like me at all...

There is nothing wrong with being a thief...

How could they believe that they would be able to turn me on their side so willingly? They're trying to corrupt me, insult me—yet it proves how inquisitive the council can be. Once again I am sidetracked from my true goal but I have learned to deal with this notion. Life is oblivious. And as much as I could end it and not give a damn, I feel no other reason to live until I find _her_. No other person I can savor a connection with right now until I find _her_. She's the only reason why I keep living everyday over and over in suffering. I have no sides in this life; you're on your own no matter what. You make as little allies as possible, because they can never be reliable if you don't know their full past or why they are a certain way now. No one is worth trusting. But if it is a price to pay, to act like a good Samaritan for just one day, then I would gladly welcome the idea to get those bastards off my ass.

I couldn't imagine that I would be returning to that kitsune. He betrayed my trust, he gave me his word and then he goes and sacrifices such honor for that Ningen Kaasan of his. I should slit his delicate throat with my katana... Or maybe he just tried to show me the true nature I could have had. He tried to save my soul, he did it for better judgment. He put his Ningen family, his only family, first and I can respect that. His life is valued, he doesn't deserve death, especially not by my hands. I know him to well to speak of his name in vain. I respect his allegiant heart, unlike those that portray false ones. I envy his good insights, I envy how things come so naturally for him, and I envy the fact that he is able to have a loving Kaasan such as she...

Maybe it was because he was able to show passion so easily...

There it was, definitely his house. The youki of Makai plant life dwelled within the structure and so did a potent ki as well. I needed to talk with him immediately. Ever since I returned from the council to presume my training in Raiden prefecture on Kaminari Sama Mountain, and ever since the dead claws that are protruding from the Sanza no Kawa caught my eye, I had tried to find the one capable of plunging ReiKai in such a frenzy. Then again, maybe it had something to do with overhearing that _drunkard _Yama in the tavern in Raiden prefecture speak of that kitsune in such a way that made me want to seek him out. Was Kurama really being hunted? I should have murdered Yama on sight, just to be sure in case it were true and that Yama was after that blasted kitsune.

I vaulted onto the roof of Kurama's residence and kept low. It wasn't as if anyone would notice my existence anyway—being as secretive as a shadow was what I did best. I lurked over the shingles until I came to the room that I knew was his, the scent of ki got stronger. I was ready to unhinge the window but soon noticed it was already opened as if waiting for me. Then again, Kurama could've already sensed me coming.

Or maybe I just gave him too much credit...

As surreptitious as I had been when coming here, I came swooping in through Kurama's window and found myself in his room—a place all too familiar to me. But instead of being welcomed by the amicable, verdant eyes of my only, factual partner, I found a woman in the room. An intruder at best. The ki I had sensed and believed it to be Kurama's had come from her and instead of wasting time and asking questions, I fell into a fighting stance. Too aware of my surroundings, I wouldn't drop my guard even if she were a lower class youkai, not even for the actuality that she was a girl.

She quickly turned towards me when she realized she wasn't alone anymore. Our eyes were locked with each other; my intent, red ones pierced her form as her staid, gray ones swirled blue and gazed at me full of animosity.

Were we enemies, or just looking for the same answers?

**Case eight--- PENDING CLOSURE**

Japanese / English: kitsune / fox (like you guys wouldn't have known this!)

New name meanings: -Omae (Kimi) is what a wife would call her husband. 'You', 'Darling', or 'Dear'. For a husband, he would commonly say 'Anata' which means the same thing. Both ways are fine.

Author's Note: This, I believe, is the shortest chapter I have done thus far for the saga! Yay! Giving you guys a little break I suppose! Hiei has arrived and I give all you Hiei lovers a feel of his troubled mind, hope you enjoyed it!

**Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator**


	16. Case Nine: Beware the Beautiful Angel! T...

Narrator: Yuusuke is ready and willing to find Keiko and save her from the clutches of Musubi before the wedding day nears. Unfortunately he doesn't know where to go. Lucky for him, Botan returns to the group with a familiar guest. Yasha. She is the only one who knows where the Bridge to Heaven is and now will be their guide, if only she can keep her head on the mission and not a certain underworld detective. Kurama offers his assistance and the group than sets out while Yosei stays behind to protect Maya, not knowing if the group will be able to pull it off. Elsewhere, Hiei races back to warn Kurama of his assailant, only to find that his ally has already vacated the premises and Kyoumi awaiting for the fire demon's arrival.

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

_**Case Nine---Beware the Beautiful Angel! The Siren's lust-filled muse and Hiei's new partner**_

Noon time, Day Three of Obon, Kanzakura on Raiden prefect-

"Baka! I told you to be more careful! How asinine could you be? You shouldn't have gone blabbing about our plan in the first place, chiefly in the local tavern. Do you know how many bounty hunters and other youkai go there? What if that information gets back to that damned Kurama… How are we going to be able to capture that girl now?" Musubi rebuked from atop his Sakura treelike divan, his voice reverberating throughout the grand hall.

"Condone me, nii-chan…" the victim belittled by the love god, kneeled low to the black marble floor and pleaded for extenuation, he had the voice of a frog.

The two figures were situated in the largest room in the tree kingdom-the throne room. The walls moved about as if they were alive-actually, they were. They were the gigantic roots of the tree and wriggled around like a worm first plucked from the ground by a buzzard. It was extremely pitch-black and the only means of light came from the torches held by more over a hundred Uwibami men that lined the red carpet leading up to the throne.

"I didn't imagine that it would matter anymore. We're luring that damned underworld detective here already; we only need one, so we should focus on the one that bought into our bait so easily. Risking his life for that harlot." The male that groveled before his superior goaded.

"Yama… stand." Musubi instructed as his brother did as he was told. He was nothing like his sibling. His countenance was rough and he looked menacing while his eyes shone silver. There was no hair on his shiny head, except for a small tuft of pink on the nape drawn into a short ponytail. His skin was a dark chocolate color and hardly unnoticed due to his revealing attire. A bearskin hung over his left shoulder while a wolf skin hung off his right like a cape. A necklace of bones and skulls was wrapped around his neck, his chest in an 'X' formation, his arms, waist, and legs. Wolf fur moccasins hid his feet and raccoon skin underwear with a metallic codpiece hid his lower area. He was gruesome and anything that had to do with ugly.

"Shimata… Nii-chan, look I-"

Musubi continued, "I can forgive your tongue when it comes to yammering, but don't insinuate foully towards that enchanting onna that will be residing with us for quite a long time, may one day even be your sister-in-law. You could even refer to her as 'onesan' from now on."

Yama began to grind his teeth. 'I'm older than that wench! I should at least call her imoto-san!'

"It's better to stay ahead of our contenders. Go back to Kurama's house and finish him off. Then we will be able to capture the girl without any hassle." Musubi stood from his royal davenport and threw something down at his younger brother. It was a syringe! "Contains a very potent biochemical anti-vitality drug, all you have to do is inject Kurama with this and he shall be dead in up to five hours." He fixed the ribbon that was tied into his pink hair. "As for me, I'll see to it that my koibito is being handled nicely. Ike."

"Hai, kaichou." Yama tossed the stylus at an Uwibami men as about a dozen of them followed after the third in command.

"Oh, and Yama…"

"Hai, kaichou…?" he turned to look at his older brother.

"Make sure my one weakness, is safely secured, bring it back to me and don't foul this up…" Musubi glared down at him.

That stare sent shivers down Yama's very spine, he nervously said, "Hai…" and with that, he spun on the balls of his heels and strutted for the exit. 'Imprudent nii-chan, don't get caught up in a silly fascination with that Ningen baita! How dare she come between our relationship, that joro! I'll kill her as soon as this is all over with; she will never marry him!" He looked behind his shoulder, back at the brother he loved so much. "She will not take him away from me!'

Minamino Household, 5:25 P.M.-

"What are you doing here?" Kyoumi's muscles tensed up as she gripped the straps of the Oi on her back firmly.

"I could ask you the same question, or I could just fight you and get the answers for myself..." Hiei pulled out his katana. Kyoumi took this signal with due precautions and began gathering her ki in her hand. She fell off guard when she saw Hiei sheath his blade in the same instant. "… But that would get us nowhere now wouldn't it?"

"Hmph." The ki stopped forming in her palm. "You're terrified, eh?" Kyoumi scoffed.

Her tactics of scorning him into battle proved useless. Hiei calmly asked, "Where's the kitsune?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be here right now…" Kyoumi crossed her arms.

"Kuso…" Hiei cursed and turned for the window. "I've just missed him then…"

"Who are you?" Kyoumi questioned, her eyes finally ceasing their swirling act.

"As if you knowing my identity matters to me." Hiei stepped one foot up on the windowsill. "Besides, I have to warn someone who is in danger."

"Is it Kurama? Or that Reikai Tantei, Yuusuke?" Kyoumi struck the fire demon's attention.

"And you know them how?" Hiei said but didn't turn towards her.

"Yuusuke saved my body from Seiiukaru's control while Kurama housed me until I recovered." Kyoumi flopped to the floor.

"You were the one who was possessed by Seiiukaru?" The boy's head faced her.

"Sorta still possessed by her…" She leaned back next to the heating table in a seductive kind of pose-her elbows held her upper body upward as her legs were sprawled out. "How about you stick around and Kyoumi will tell you everything you need to know, or, if you like, we can always do something else other than talking…"

Hiei was about to pounce out of the window. "I've got no time for this, let alone believe that a crop-destroying youkai like you can be a use to me."

Amazing, this strange thirteen-year-old could already tell she was apart of the Maiya youkai clan… "They've left already… They've already gone after Shazmee, Musubi, and his brother, Yama." Kyoumi said all-knowingly.

"Hn…" Hiei thought over his options. He would have to find Yuusuke somehow and help him in any way possible just to be free from the council of Reikai. "And why does this concern you? Why would you even guess that that is the reason why I am here? You're just prolonging what I have to do."

"It's easy for me to put two-and-two together. Before I left this place, I could smell the stench of Yama lurking around, he tried to copy Seiiukaru's abilities but, unfortunate for him, I had taken control over my body once again. I only came back to request Kurama's help against Yama; he's still gunning for me. Why else would you come to this exact place? You knew he was in danger, obviously." Kyoumi sat up.

"And, so what?" Hiei droned, already bored with the encounter.

Kyoumi blinked and felt a little puzzled. "I… uh…" she found her words that got caught in her throat, "I propose we team up. You need to save your _kitsune-koi _from Yama and I need to take revenge on Yama for killing my koibito. So wouldn't you see it as ironic that we would meet?"

"No." Hiei said simply.

"But don't you see? WE need to save our loved ones from the same threat! It's fate that we came together in the same place. We are for the same cause." Kyoumi jolted from off the ground and clenched her fists.

"I don't believe in the fact that I'm not in control of my own life. Fate is fiction. I can do this on my own." Hiei retorted. "Furthermore, I do not love that stupid fox. I only respect the fact that he _saved_ me once, I'm just returning the favor. And if I needed a partner, it would be someone worth a good spar, not a seductress. You'd just get in my way."

Kyoumi began to pout, defying his order of ceasing the discussion, "Bet you don't even know where to look…"

"I'll figure it out." Hiei had a comeback for anything Kyoumi could think of.

"You can easily be killed, it's better to have someone out there to watch your back as well, someone you can call 'friend' for once and mean it…" Kyoumi yearned to keep the conversation open.

"I doubt it." Hiei turned away from her again. "Sounds more like you're comparing your own life to the situation. I don't need any friends. No one's worth trusting unless you know everything about them. There's only one person I could ever trust."

Kyoumi instinctively knew who he was implying. She smirked. "I knew that pretty boy was more than just a short-lived acquaintance."

Hiei was now fed up with the uselessness of the conversation with the Maiya youkai-his hand was positioned over the hilt of his sword. "I've got no time for-"

"Who's in here?" the door to Kurama's room screeched open as his mother stood in the doorway, coming face to face with the two _interlopers_.

Final Junction before Raiden Prefect, "Haven of the Dead"-

"Are you sure we're in Raiden prefecture now." Yuusuke groaned. "Damn this fog."

The group was struggling to find their way through a mist of fog. They were wading around in water-all except Botan who was securely, and dryly, perched upon her oar. The water was bleak and murky; dead logs and molding brownish-green algae covered the surface.

"Not exactly." Yasha began.

Yuusuke ripped her from off his shoulder and shook her about, "Whaddya mean! We're going the wrong way!"

"Nah, nah! We be on the right track! All we have tah do is first get out of this lil' ol' swamp. Raiden is ah few ways ahead, dahling." Yasha sniveled. Yuusuke released her.

"Good, I can't wait to get out of this putrid place." Botan said uneasy and hugged the nozzle of the Confinement Jar close to her.

"Hey, you aren't the one standing thigh-high in this fungus!" Yuusuke blurted out.

"Thank Enma…" Botan mocked her partner.

"Come 'ere and say that!" Yuusuke vacillated after Botan and tried grabbing at her but she just hovered higher into the air.

"Oi… you're as silent as ah catfish at ah fish-fry in July, redhead." Yasha flapped over to Kurama.

"If you mean what I'm thinking of, then yes I know… Something's about to happen… Keep an eye out… The Haven of the Dead is like a labyrinth and the finishing point is Raiden Prefect… this labyrinth has many surprises… " Kurama cast his eyes down at the liquid that began to rise. "Huu! Yuusuke! The water, we need to get of the water!"

Yuusuke diverted his gaze down at the climbing pool. "What the hell!"

"EE! Dead ahead." Yasha shrieked, shot over to Yuusuke like a bullet, and hid behind him.

"Are you sure it's straight forward?" Yuusuke was now floating in the water since it ascended greatly over such a short amount of time. He tried swimming towards his teammates.

"Not dead ahead, DEAD ahead!" Botan pointed out.

Yuusuke drew his focus forward. "Nani!"

The fog began to lift as a barrage of decaying zombie-like creatures with decrepit wings stood in the water. They were a sight for sore eyes-literally, numerous body parts ripped off and portions of their skeleton could be seen. The undead moaned and were standing directly on the river.

"We can't fight in water, we have a disadvantage." Kurama informed while his teammates swayed back and forth in the ocean. He was trying to swim away from the monsters that could walk on water!

"Where do we go! There's no land for miles!" Yuusuke brought up his hand and formed a gun. "Nothing else to do but fight!"

All of a sudden, each zombie stomped hard on the liquid surface. From the impetus force exerted onto the water, a gush of the liquid shot up like a geyser. The fluid flowed toward the group, parting the sea before it.

"Botan! Do something!" Yuusuke roared.

"On it!" Botan was intending on sucking up every last drop of water with the Confinement Jar but to her surprise, something grabbed her by her arms. "Nan-" Botan felt the pressure squeeze her from behind. She jerked her head around to see what it was but nothing was there! Was she losing it? Why did her body feel as if something was latched onto her!

"What the hell are you doing!" Yuusuke scowled up at the ferrywoman, the serpentine edging closer.

"Yuusuke I-" Something clasped over her mouth and waist as well. Was it an invisible foe? Or something else? 'I… can't breathe…' Botan passed out right then and there.

"Botan!" Yuusuke called out to her just when the spiral of water hit them all. Yuusuke and Yasha were drawn further away from Kurama.

"Ahohoho!" a voice was heard guffawing at the amusement it beheld.

"The hell… This isn't damn funny!" Yuusuke screamed at the top of his lungs.

In an instant, what was constraining Botan appeared out of nowhere. In a flash, some type of crimson red goo was constricting the grim reaper.

"What is that stuff!" Yuusuke peered wide-eyed at the unconscious woman. Unexpectedly, she phased out of sight. "Botan!"

"You wander so willingly into my field of the harvested dead, my glorious angels! I cannot allow you to wake the sleeping child in Kanzakura. I cannot allow you to disturb the wedding..."

"Show yourself! Temee! What the hell did you do with Botan!" Yuusuke demanded.

From the hoard of zombies, a ravishing seraphim bathed in a bright light fluttered from the pack. She would have been presented to them completely in the nude if her rippling silver hair and a transparent, loose robe didn't conceal her body. One of her wings was that of a crane and the other of a crow. "That woman cannot compare to my beauty, she had to be done away with. I am Tenshi; the last beautiful being you shall ever lay your miserable eyes on. You will not make it out of my heaven! This will be where your journey ends, you shall never approach Raiden!"

In sync with the extraordinary angel's words, each zombies' head burst open and their bodies merged into the depths of the briny deep. In place of their forms was what emerged out of their skull-a feather that shone luminously.

"Now gaze into my gorgeous eyes and listen to my alluring voice…" The seraph sung, lifting up her head to reveal her heart-shaped face and mystifying pink eyes justified by her luscious, red lips.

"Oh please, like we will do what you say! BUSU! The sight of you makes me sick! BUSU NA!" Yuusuke griped and shut his eyes.

"How dare you!" Tenshi was filled with rage as a dark ki began to radiate over the feathers.

"Not the best move, Yuusuke…" Kurama said a little peeved yet still sedated.

"How so?" Yuusuke asked still ticked off.

"Duh, now dis wretch ish gonna use her Siren's attack! Ningenkai to Yuusuke, you really need to bone up on your studies." Yasha poked him on the head continuously, trying to get through to him.

"WRETCH! You grimy rat with wings!" Tenshi struck out her hands and her quills went flying. **EUPHORIA DUSTER**

"Oh Ah'm sahhy, I meant WENCH! WENCH, WENCH, WENCH!" Yasha protested.

"Way to go, bat-girl!" Yuusuke socked her on the noggin. Three feathers darted for each one of them. "ECK! This is it!"

"Rose Whip!" Kurama brought out a thorny switch that scourged the feathers in an flash.

"Where were you hiding that? Or maybe… I dun' wanna know." Yuusuke gasped in relief.

"My hands were unseen under water. Thanks to the algae, Tenshi couldn't see the rose that I hid up my sleeve slip out into my palm as I transformed it into a lengthy, thistle-filled whip." Kurama explained how he used his surroundings to his advantage.

"Ah." Yuusuke and Yasha chirped in astonishment.

"Tricky, tricky… But all I need is to make more!" Tenshi shrieked and out of every direction, a bombardment of feathers hurled for them. "Lets see your little whip nick them all.

She was right, Kurama couldn't lash them out alone and Yuusuke was virtually helpless because of his limited power usage-Yasha's ability to fight was completely out of the question. It wasn't long until Kurama felt one of the points of the feathers had struck him directly in the nape of his neck. "Geh!" His eyes bulged from the pain and his jaw opened quite spaciously. The feather had penetrated the redhead's skin and dug deep into his flesh. The attack immobilized him as he loosened the grip on his whip and it turned back into a rose.

"Kurama!" Yuusuke hollered in agitation, though he would soon feel the same racking pain. A feather stuck him directly in the front of his neck! He could literally feel it scrape against his collarbone as it ruptured his skin and gave way for blood to trickle into the water. It stung so much and Yuusuke felt as if he would pass out any moment.

"Why ah oughta! How dare yah harm, my-" Yasha took off for the angel but a shower of the needle-like feathers aimed for her now. She dodged each one but soon felt outnumbered. "No dice! Ah shall keep tah the code of a spy! Ah have no sides! Ah rather live!" the coward screeched and flapped higher into the air and out of sight.

'Traitor…' Yuusuke's eyelids were heavy as he tried to gaze over to his _true_ comrade. Kurama was completely knocked out and was floating on his back. They were utterly paralyzed.

'Hm… She won't affect our plan anyhow, but she would've made a fabulous snack for the _Mountain Man_. Now I'll have to give him this equally gorgeous man-such beauty almost surpasses mine, too bad we had to meet under these circumstances. But no beauty shall ever compare to me unless it were the beauty of my Great Lord Musubi-sama.' Tenshi brought her mind back to reality. "Ahem-Where were we, ah yes, now what will stop me from capturing you?"

"Iie…" the Reikai Tantei lost all signs of hope now. Botan was gone to who knows where and he couldn't even imagine what on earth could be happening to her. Yasha chickened out and saved herself, probably in cohorts with this evil all along. Kurama had so much to live for, he needed this second chance, now it would prove to have been for nothing… And Keiko… Yuusuke felt the stings of disappointing her the most…

Meanwhile, Minamino Household, Kitchen, 7:00 P.M.-

Shiori had retired to her room for the night and offered up the guest-room up stairs. Kyoumi kindly declined; she wasn't planning on staying much longer now that she figured that Kurama was long gone. Hiei gave his usual "Hn" in response and that was the end of that conversation.

"Why did you stick around? I thought a great youkai thief such as yourself was too arrogant to give ningens the benefit of the doubt?" Kyoumi leaned up against the refrigerator-her hair being pushed back into her face as she kept the enticing pose.

Hiei had his hands crossed and looked deep in thought-his seat was on the edge of a counter by the small window in the kitchen. "Feh." He blew air through his teeth, getting rather upset with her constant vocalizing. "Could you shut that mouth of yours for once. I wouldn't have thought you would stick around either, maybe it was just because the offering of food came about that you became such good friends with that ningen. Pathetic."

Kyoumi lurched her head as her eyebrow began to twitch. "Like you don't have a better excuse, you stuck around free of will, I stayed because she already knew me from before and thought I was actually a friend of her _musuko-san_. You didn't even eat. She was humble, the least you could have done was eat her seemly ningen cooking even though you are an intruder in her own home already. Gyogi ga warui..."

"Hmph. I don't partake in ningen food." He opened his small, ruby eyes but didn't glance over at her. "I don't have to be welcomed in, I do as I please. I rather honor that stupid fox by treating his kaasan at least decent if I'm under her roof. I'll stay until I'm not needed. Wouldn't expect you to understand." He pounced off the counter and began to head for the doorway of the kitchen.

Kyoumi picked up her Oi by one of its straps and threw it over her shoulder. At her dismay, she knocked various items out of her backpack. "Oie!" she kneeled down and began tossing her knickknacks back in the pack.

Hiei stopped. "And do you have to flaunt an inhumane gesture every time you try to get something out of me."

"Oh, does it bother you? Distracts you?" Kyoumi purred and held her hands behind her head, trying to perk up her chest.

"It disgusts me." Hiei kept walking as the sixteen-year-old fell over onto her rear. "Besides, you don't have _anything_ worth distracting."

Hiei struck a nerve. "Grr, bakayaro, you spoil the fun…" She followed closely behind him. Both of them soon found each other outside of the Minamino residence and on the sidewalk, bathed in the moonlight with a luminescent hue reflecting from off their skin. "Why did you stay until you weren't needed? Needed for what?" Kyoumi brought up what he said before but soon saw that it would explain itself in due time. The whole time Hiei had been walking, his grip on the hilt of his katana tightened.

"For this!" Hiei spun around urgently and brought out his weapon. He was positioned undeviatingly in front of Kyoumi and jabbed the blade forward.

"Huu…" the Maiya youkai staggered back as thick, cerise liquid splattered to the floor, staining it once the fluid made contact.

"Heh, you're obsolete to me…" Hiei withdrew his blade and placed it back in the holster.

"Dammit, I didn't even sense that!" Kyoumi looked behind her at the petrified Uwibami man stabbed by Hiei's sword-his jaws were just about to clamp over Kyoumi's head if it wasn't for Hiei. The goo from its wound stopped bleeding and began to get sucked back into its body.

Kyoumi felt Hiei's icy grip fasten around her arm and hurl her behind him-unbelievable, he could propel her that far! She really did underestimate him.

"You'll just slow me down." Hiei added and leaped onto the head of the Uwibami man. His sword returned to his hand and he shoved it down on the creature's skull bluntly! It squealed in agony.

Kyoumi landed on her feet right in the middle of the empty street. She punched at the ground over and over with all her might. She couldn't believe she was so inane, she got herself distracted once again. She needed to do some more serious training, somehow, ever since she came to Ningenkai, she lost all sense of awareness… it just didn't seem as threatening as the world of Makai. "Damn!" her knuckles were already bleeding yet she wanted to whack one more time at the structure that couldn't fight back, just to release all her hostility. Was she really that blind?

"Nani!" Her punch didn't make contact with the pavement, instead, the ground below her imperatively formed into the lower _half_ of an Uwibami man! "Ew… you… you…" she trembled to see that her hand was lodged directly in the Uwibami man's LOWER REGION! "… Ecchi!" She slashed her hand _out_ of the Uwibami man and hovered backward. Out of nowhere, she began hurling a fusillade of rice balls at the monster and they exploded on contact. "EcchiEcchiEcchiEcchi!" **GREAT ONIGIRI OF FIRE**

"She refers to him as an Ecchi, even though she was just acting like one a few minutes ago. Eck, What a pitiful display of a strategy." Hiei hand his arms tucked behind his back as he observed the anything-but-amusing battle. The Uwibami man the fire demon had been thrashing tried to sneak up on him but Hiei was just too quick. He stuck his sword in-between his eyes without turning away from the fight. It was back on the ground in seconds. "This is a waste." He looked away in disgust.

"It would be much more entertaining if she would stop playing around to gain your attention… eh?" a voice came out of nowhere.

"Hm?" Hiei slanted his head to the side to see that the voice came from the unconscious Uwibami man he had stuck with his sword.

The gel man gripped the blade, it was very taxing to pull out of his head but, to his predominate fortune, he soon lacerated it from his forehead. He got back up and launched the katana at its owner.

Hiei grabbed it directly by the blade, tossed it up, and retained it by its hilt again. "Hn… An illusion…"

"You have tough skin to be able to wield that blade like that; is it from your induced amount of training, or from your hardened heart of constantly being alone?" The creature had the _voice of a frog_.

Hiei was silent for a while but soon spoke out, "Are you that much of a coward you have to hide inside the shell of your own creations."

"If I wanted a fight I would have come here in person… this is just a warning." Kyoumi was seen in the background really kicking ass when it came to her weak opponent. She was really letting loose, just to get rid of all her anger towards Hiei. The fake Uwibami man was mildly distracted by Kyoumi's raging actions. "Ahem, since your stupid fox boy is already walking aimlessly into my master's trap, it will be a mindless task capturing that awakening nuisance of a Reikai Tantei in this city."

"And this involves me how?" Hiei said getting fed up.

"I rather make it more interesting of a provocation before I kill you and take the girl back to my master so we can transfer Seiiukaru's endowment to benefit our own means. You have until the final day of Ura-bon to bring a _sacred black cherry bough _to me from Raiden Prefecture… Why a bough you ask? Because it means purity, and that will decide the fate of the world. If you fail, I'll certainly kill you, if the prefecture hasn't already done so. But if you accomplish the goal, you'll have my word that I will spare your life and that of the world. All you have to give me is the girl and no harm will befall any of the worlds or its inhabitants. Sort of like an exchange of equal merit." the creature slyly informed him, weaving a web of lies; not knowing what he was getting himself into.

"You're wasting my time." Hiei was about to draw his sword back in its covering.

"If you refuse, I'll kill the fox's kaasan. If he makes it through this, who will he be more mad at when he finds out she is dead. The one who did it, or the one who could have prevented it?" The puppet began to howl with laughter.

"Silence!" Hiei sliced the being in half with his katana, this time it didn't regenerate.

"You don't have a choice, do you risk the world's existence because of your stubbornness? Isn't there someone who means something to you, someone you spend sleepless nights searching for, someone who connects with you…" the voice echoed through Hiei's mind.

"How-" the diminutive boy's eyes strained.

"-Would I know? So much you can do with a dozen or two spies constantly watching one target…" On cue with his words, mirage-like images of well over a hundred Uwibami men were positioned all over the area-on cars, on rooftops, everywhere! The vision disappeared. "You have four more days, you better get started…"

"Kuso…" Hiei drew his katana back. 'Another drawback, and it's thanks to her that I'm in a situation like this. I have no choice but to bring her with me, I'll have to give her away to him sooner or later… There's no way I'm going to lose in a race against time, especially when four days is what I get… why not make it interesting and give me until tomorrow night.'

"Quite a workout, eh?" Kyoumi jogged up to Hiei's side. The fire demon glanced over at the number the girl did on the battered monster. He waved around a white flag to show he surrendered.

'Egh… Baka…' Hiei smacked his head feeling as if whoever he met was a complete idiot. It was for the best that he would have such an attraction on his side; maybe she'll be able to distract any enemies that stand in their way so he wouldn't have to break a sweat for once. He was tired of fighting someone's battles and would rather fight his own for a change. "We're going to Raiden prefecture, hurry up."

"Huh? You've changed your mind?" Kyoumi's eyes sparkled excitedly.

"I don't consider you a friend if that's what you mean. You're just coming along as entertainment at best." Hiei informed her.

"You still don't trust me! But we're... GARUTACHI!" Kyoumi growled a little on the humorous side.

"I don't know anything about you." Hiei mentioned.

"Oh, well, I'm a Maiya youkai of the spring-hare species. I am a class D negative-last I heard from countless reports. I resemble a sixteen-year-old but I'm much older than that-a woman never reveals her true age. I study, and will soon be master, in the art of Kome Ken-manipulation of kome. Once we find some proper quarters, I'll be glad to cook you some onigiri, your favorite if you like. But if you aren't hungry, we can always do something a little more _productive_… Oh yes, and Yama is mine…" She brought out her right hand. "Akumada Kyoumi."

'She's older than me yet she acts like a child…' Hiei stared at her hand but he didn't shake it. "Hiei, and we'll see who claims who…" he walked passed her. 'So I acquire a chef, at least that's one worthy quality that came out of this little coup...' Hiei looked back at her, "Hope you cook as good as you fight, it really doesn't do you any justice, better just leave the fighting to me."

"Matte! You think that was fighting out there?" Kyoumi began to chortle as she strapped on her Oi. "You haven't seen me do major damage yet, wait and see."

"Hn. I bet."

"Hai! Onward to _Ryo-wo_ Prefecture!" Kyoumi made a victory sign with her fingers.

"It's Raiden Prefecture." Hiei corrected her.

"Iie, every third-rate, E-class youkai knows that Yama's fortress is in Ryo-Wo. Raiden is home to his brother, Musubi." The girl began to act all-knowingly again.

"Hn…" Hiei would just go with what she said for now. Why not? Even if it were a mistake he could always turn back and accomplish the mission with time to spare. He was just ready to get started; the Council of Reikai was just going to have to wait.

_You are a thief first, a good Samaritan second, and a hero never…_

"And if you are accompanying me no more references to _things_ you do behind closed doors…" Hiei and Kyoumi walked off down the road.

"Uso!" Kyoumi whined but soon perked up. 'Finally, it'll all come to an end… This is for you Kombu!' She shot up a fist, "To Ryo-Wo!"

Too bad for her, she didn't know how wrong she was… Or was she?

Back at the Haven of the Dead-

'I can't believe it is over… It didn't even have a chance to start…' Yuusuke was ready to give in.

'Hehe, I'm doing this for you, Musubi-sama!' Tenshi's mouth gaped wide open as she cleared her throat.

'I've gotta keep going, I won't let him have you… I won't let him take away your innocence.' Yuusuke's fingers began to twitch and pulse with energy.

A hypnotizing and charismatic song danced from Tenshi's mouth as if her voice box were a harp:

"_Remission lies unworthy of thine nemesis of thine savage before he beget thy name… _

_Fore doth thou hast seen…_

_Renounce thy will in need of lust, purge the white, give into the black… _

_Fore doth thou hast been…_

_Contravene the evil that slinks among the righteous, death dawns rapid within thy fires of inevitability…_

_Fore doth thou hast were_.."

**COURTESAN'S REQUIM**

The feathers surrounded the two boys and danced to her words, illuminating the scene with a terrifying silence of darkness. They began to sink deeper into Davie Jones's Locker until their heads were completely submerged. Water filled their lungs instantaneously and the pressure constricted their muscles. It was the end… owari.

'I won't give up… I'll protect you… I'll protect everyone…'

An abounds of halation engulfed him…

_owari_...

**Case ten--- PENDING CLOSURE**

Japanese / English: shimata / oh no (shit), ike / fucking go, onesan (ane) / big sister, baita / ignorant slut, nii-chan / big brother, imoto-san / little sister, busu / ugly woman, busu na / she's so fucking ugly, subeta / bitch, joro / prostitute, bakayaro / stupid fucker, musuko (-san) / son, Gyogi ga warui / "bad manners", garutachi / "partners in crime", owari / the end

New name meanings: -A Tenshi is an angel. They are not only messengers of God but also benefactors of the people. Tenshi is very beautiful and has a voice able to hypnotize the strongest of warriors. She is extremely in love with Musubi and wishes he chose her to marry instead of Keiko.

A Mountain Man is a ruthless Japanese demon that dwells in the forest and the only way to pacify him is the offering of rice. He is Tenshi's sort of _pet_.

Ryo-Wo is the Japanese god of the sea called the Dragon King. Ryo-Wo prefecture is the place where, ironically, Musubi's _weakness_ lies.

Author's Note: Finally Hiei and Kyoumi have their mission! And I'm getting really sick of taking out some of my characters like the plus signs (I use to isolate scene changes) and the hyphenation mark! #$#$#& take that and chew it! Hahahahahaha! Hiei is such a snake in the grass! He's plotting against dear Kyuu-chan! AH! dramatic music Oh yeh, look at Tenshi's song. It is about prostitution if you couldn't guess, bet ya couldn't pick out the main points as to how! MWUHAHA!

**Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator**


	17. Case Ten: The Remedy of Rice

Narrator: We find that the fire demon, Hiei, has returned to Ningenkai in order to accomplish his mission enforced onto him by the Council of Reikai-aid the Reikai Tantei in any way possible. But he is soon sidetracked when Kyoumi returns and suggests they join forces. From the discussion, Hiei finally gives in, but there may be more behind the reason as to why Hiei would want to join up with such an incompetent demon. Elsewhere, Yasha, the group's only means of finding the Floating Bridge to Heaven, betrays Yuusuke and Kurama while Botan is taken away from them. Now they are at the mercy of a villainous, yet, arousing, angel and will discover what you face when you defy her…

**Aishiterutte itta yo ne?**

_**Case Ten---The Remedy of Rice**_

Day Four of Obon, Haven of the Dead 1:00 A.M.-

"T'is 'bout time you came around; I like my prey nice and squirmy on the way down." A voice as grainy as a bull's moan spoke in the dark.

Kurama tried to focus the beast before him through his blurry perception. His reflexes unleashed and he was prepared to defend himself from any attack that may be discharged, but he soon figured that sturdy roping secured his arms and legs to a tree in the middle of a dead wood forest!

"But I gotta say, I'm totally starved now that I've eaten twice my weight in _rice fields_-so good to the taste. But I heard that ningen meat tastes just as good."

"Well you sound like an absolute genius…" the redhead's green eyes finally regained their vision as he looked over the barbarian, figuratively speaking of course, behind his capture from upside down. Nevertheless, even if he were hanging upside down he was still able to identify the creature. He had bright orange skin and beading black eyes. The hefty creature's size was overwhelming, at least fifteen feet tall at best. A beaver fur tunic was what he beast wore to go with a beaver fur headband wrapped around his forehead to keep his long, black, disheveled hair out of his eyes. **MOUNTAIN MAN**

"GAHAHAHA! Aitsu erasou ni shiyagatte!" The man's fangs protruded as he spoke out into the anything-but-mundane woods. "Do you know where you hang, boy! I could swallow you in one gulp, I am the most feared animal in this labyrinth!" He pounded his fists on his chest madly.

"The intelligence of your persona amuses me." Kurama said smugly.

"BWAHA! I like you, you entertain me, boy! Too bad I'm so starving or I would keep you around as a pet! Such a pretty thing you are, hope you taste as good as you look!" The Mountain Man was doubling over in laughter. "Smashing that delicate skull open to feast on the mush inside, gauging out your eyeballs just to suck the juices out of them. Delicious!"

"Rest assured, I am not tremulous about your dark humor… I won't be killed today anyway, though I could grant you with a clean bill of health if you release me… I won't have to end your life so suddenly." Kurama admonished.

"PSH!" He snorted. "Don't make me laugh anymore, boy!" The obnoxious being chuckled as his pectoral muscles bounced with his movements. "I've gotten my orders to devour you, you think I'll go back on the exquisite Tenshi's commands! My Master Musubi instructed that your friend is delayed from reaching Kanzakura until the wedding is over. Once it is, he will be transported to the Floating Bridge where he will be slaughtered by Lord Shazmee. But you see, I am quite a hungry fellow, and with all my rice trees Musubi presented to me have been left barren by my craw, I might as well get used to the taste of ningen flesh as its flavor dances on my pallet."

"You seem to underestimate me, vicious beast…" Kurama shut his eyes slowly.

"OH? And what is it that I underestimate, boy!" the monster bellowed his rapturous screams of sniggers.

"Even though I am of ningen born, I am still all youkai…" Kurama shot his eyes open. "More youkai than you could ever be!"

"Guess I'm going to have to teach you a lesson," The Mountain Man cracked his knuckles and aimed a punch right at Kurama's torso, "Don't speak out of line!"

"Fuuka Enbujin!" A windstorm of rose petals came from behind Kurama's head and formed around him, canceling out the Mountain Man's punch.

"What trickery is this!" The man edged away from the blockade of petals.

"This is my defense against you while this…" All of a sudden a long whip of thorns bolted from behind Kurama's head and split his bindings in half. The boy flipped over until he was right side up. "Is my offense against you… Kagon Retsuzan Shi." The petals were taken away by the wind and rose into the air.

"Where did that come from!" The Mountain Man gnarled under his breath.

"I usually wouldn't bother explaining my strategy to the less fortunate before I kill them, but if you must know, it came from a simple rose. One I plucked into my hair before I became fully paralyzed. Tenshi failed to notice that when I floated over on my back I had hid the rose under my hair; resulting in your downfall." The imperative fox held up his whip and gave a delightful smirk at his soon-to-be victim. The tables have turned.

"L-like I'm gonna p-p-piss my loins because you have a-A STUPID FLOWER!" The Mountain Man yelled pigheadedly and hit the ground with his elbows in full force. A rupture in the earth broke out as a fissure headed towards where the pretty boy held his ground.

"Don't insult the elegance that is a divine rose…" Kurama leaped into the area swiftly. "Besides, if you are not full of fear… than why does your voice tremble so… Let me show you the silent wrath of that that is a pure blossom!" He jerked the whip about close to twenty times in one second as the scene became mute. Kurama retouched the earth and kneeled down-his Meiou High uniform rustled against the wind.

All at once, both of the Mountain Man's legs and one of his arms split off from the rest of his body in various portions. Blood spewed from his injuries as he toppled over-dead as a doorknob. "Eckhhhh, one more taste… just one… the sweet taste of rice…" he rasped but soon hushed.

Kurama stood and bowed his respect, he was considerate of the death even if it were his opponent. But as soon as he arched his position back up, he took off-his whip returning to its natural configuration. He would most likely have to get out of the Haven just to figure out where Tenshi had taken Yuusuke and Botan. It was literally a race against time if he were to save the world and the Reikai Tantei.

It wasn't long until Kurama slowed his quickening pace to a slow jog as he had discovered Yuusuke dancing along side a strange demon!

"Rose Thorny Whip Edge!" the whip from the rose extended outward and lashed the demon controlling Yuusuke's movements. It was as if Yuusuke had been in a trance and as soon as the demon was stricken, he awakened and instantly fell to the floor. Kurama swooped down from one of the dead trees and perched Yuusuke up on his back. "Are you all right, Yuusuke?"

"Huh?" Yuusuke sat himself up. "Kurama? Whoa, my legs feel as if a truck ran over them, criminy. What happened? How did I get out of that… hypnotizing thingy?" Yuusuke rubbed his arches.

"The eye-contact was broken so the spell became ineffective. Can you remember anything at all?" Kurama asked.

Yuusuke held his head. "Naw… Ever since we went under… I saw a light and then… Blank… Man my legs hurt, what was I doing? Exercise for eight hours!" Yuusuke massaged his thighs again. "I sure am feeling the burn that's for sure!"

"Exercise? Ha! The _Gale of the Kagura _is the most skilled art passed down throughout my species, the Seal youkai clan. If you hadn't disturbed us, you _realist_, than my pupil would be stuck in the dance of fools for the rest of his life-I only needed two more minutes and the sequence of over eight hours would have been complete! This life is a fanatical one that should be enjoyed! Get lost in the thrill of the dance!" the youkai Kurama had struck got up from the ground.

"Wait a minute! You mean I was dancing all FREAKY thanks to... Aitso! This brat!" Yuusuke shouted enraged.

"Brat! The amazing dancer, Uzume, is seventy years old!"

"You look seven…" the fourteen-year-old mocked.

The girl did look somewhere between seven although she insisted she was seventy. Her outfit was most outrageous as little fins poked out on the ankles of her bare, pale orange legs. She wore a white and red dress that looked like a shirt-the bottom half was all frilly and the top had various bows of all sizes attached to the collar. The trims of the bows and on her frilly cuffs were red and everything else was white. To go with her pale orange skin was her teal hair, which looked quite boyish, and eyes filled with joy. "Shut up, old man!"

"OLD MAN!" Yuusuke was now in even more rage than before.

Kurama chuckled at the scene.

"Enough, you baka! I will get both of you! My master will be so pleased!" Uzume brought her hands up and stretched her legs out-it looked as if she were in the pose of sumo wrestles before they engage in combat. A swirl of turquoise colored energy began to engulf the girl. "Now you _children_, watch as the Gale of the Kagura entwines you, lures you in, dance until you die-"

PWSH!

"Itai! Itai! Itai!" Uzume held the swollen lump on her head where Yuusuke had whacked her. "How could you? Hitting a girl is the worst, especially a little girl like me! How heartless!"

"Oh so now you are a little girl now, huh? Well the first thing you should know about fighting is that you duke it out first, yip-yap later. Becha becha!" Yuusuke cracked his knuckles.

"Where's your dignity, old man!" Uzume gnawed on her bottom lip, tears feeling her eyes.

"Quiet, brat!" Yuusuke yelled in her ear.

Uzume hopped away from the Reikai Tantei and began to power up. "I'll show you brat! NECROMANCY'S DAN-"

BWSH!

Uzume was plowed into the ground once again by… the Mountain Man! He was still able to move by dragging his carcass with his one arm left intact by Kurama's attack. A disgusting smear of blood led all the way from his previous location to this one. "Itai, itai…" She whined, another lump on her head.

"The Mountain Man…" Kurama was baffled to see the creature still alive.

"The Muffin Man?" Yuusuke said dumbfounded.

"Why'd ya' do that, _Jii-san_!" Uzume screamed at her apparent grandfather!

"Jii-san?" Kurama and Yuusuke said in unison. The Mountain Man looked pretty young to even be considered a grandfather!

"Bozu! Don't play stupid, girl! First you eat all my rice that the master gave to me and now you try and take my prey!" The Mountain Man glared down at the girl.

"Haha, looks like your prey is owning you! You're my size now! Haha!" Uzume ridiculed.

"Shut up! It'll grow back in a few weeks anyway!" the two kept bickering.

Kurama and Yuusuke blinked.

"Great, another demon, at least this one looks as if he can't put up much of a fight. But come on, I love a good fight now and then but don't we have a mission to finish?" Yuusuke groaned.

"First we need to drop off this extra baggage if we ever want to accomplish our journey before the last day." An idea popped into Kurama's head.

Kome is the remedy for any problem…

Kurama nodded from what he remembered. He pointed off into the opposite direction. "Do you see that?"

"Nani?" Yuusuke looked where he was pointing. "See what?"

"Oh wow, it looks like a tree of rice weed! That's very rare! Must be the last one!" Kurama acted wonderfully.

"What are you talking about, I don't-" Kurama clamped his palm over Yuusuke's mouth.

"NANI!" the relatives said at the same time.

"It's mine!" Uzume shrieked.

"You got the last one, you gluttonous girl!" her grandfather knocked her down. "Delicious hull here I come-"

"Necromancy's Dancing Ghoul!" Uzume did her own attack on the Mountain Man. Two zombies from below the ground popped up and grabbed him by the arms and started dancing with him.

"Cheater!" The Mountain Man broke the skeletons in half and ran after her. "Get back here!"

Soon, the area was quiet as the two family members had let their stomach lead them to rice they would never eventually find in that dead wood forest. The only ones left were Yuusuke, Kurama, and the two skeletons having a jolly good time dancing around.

"I say we vacate before they catch on." Kurama suggested.

"I say we vamoose before those zombies pick us as their next dance partners." Yuusuke proved to make a good point too. "How did you know that would get them to leave?"

Kurama thought it over. He finally told Yuusuke, "Someone once told me a valuable piece of information about how rice is a good peacemaker. Nothing too special… Besides, we first need to get out of this forest maze." The kitsune tried to put the conversation back on track.

"You're right. That traitor Yasha took off and Botan's gone too. That Confinement vacuum thing is out of our grasp as well. Damn! We're at a strong disadvantage, how are we freakin' getting out of here!" the Reikai Tantei ran his hands through his hair over and over.

"I can help… If you want…"

Kurama and Yuusuke turned to see who was speaking to them.

Fortress atop Kaminari Sama, 4:00 A.M.-

"You monster! Release me!" Botan clamored and kicked her feet. It was no use; being tied up in shackles to the wall was the least of her worries however. What had happened to Yuusuke and the others once she was taken away from them? Better yet, who brought her here?

She flashed her rosy eyes across the dungeon. It was a devoid of light; the only trace of fire came from the winding staircase located at the other end of the room. It was a monstrous torture chamber-fresh blood on a guillotine, whips and maces cast aside with limbs attached, but the worst of all were the skeletons chained up to the wall adjoining her, obviously having been done away by starvation.

Her pupils shrunk and her mouth hung open. "AH! What do you want with me, whoever you are! If you do anything to me I swear Master KoEnma will get you! Well… his father will-but still! He's big and king of Reikai, he'll kick your-"

"Ask me no more questions, I'll tell you everything you need to know in due time…" A shadowy figure came from down the winding stairs.

"Who is… Huh?" Botan felt the bondings that were constraining her beginning to give way. They broke off from her arms and she could feel something slithery massaging up and down her leg. Whatever it was sent shivers down her spine mainly because she couldn't see what it was. "EE! What is that!" She stomped her feet up and down, trying to get whatever it was to quit rolfing her.

"Didn't I say to stop asking questions… I despise it when someone transgress me fore I am a being that should never be transgressed-don't you think you should obey a person's request especially-ESPECIALLY when they control your life up to this point! ESPECIALLY when it is the EXALTED Shazmee you are conversing with!" He cleared his throat and restored his dignified demeanor, "You've just lost any leniency I was going to allow you..." he would've kept on ranting on if Botan hadn't interrupted.

"I don't need your mercy! You deranged, nonsensical lunatic! I am considered to be Master KoEnma's-" Botan began to defend herself.

"-Ah… you've gone and hurt my feelings…" The man snapped his fingers while Botan kept rambling.

"And another thing-Eh!" a rush of whatever had been stroking her legs went over her waist and brought her forward. It slammed her down on what felt like a wooden table and retreated back into the silence. This time she felt padlocks clamp over her feet, arms, forehead, and abdomen. Her hair was matted in her face and strayed to the side as she tried struggling against her restraints once again. She was confined to a torture bed! "What do you want!"

The fire from the torch on the stairway went out.

"There goes those questions again…" Her aggressor spoke, it sounded as if he were right beside her. "But no matter, you won't be with us long, be that as it may… Have you ever wondered how it felt to be exiled from society because you perform alchemy on those blasted ningens? How you would do anything to get back in, anything to-" His frigid fingertips rubbed circles onto the skin of Botan's bare knees projecting from the lower fold of her pink kimono. "-avenge your newfound locality in solitude, anything to put someone else in your place, anything to taste, or even smell, that sweet, tangy aroma of rice...?"

'Why me… Why does he want me?' Botan clenched her eyes shut while the unwanted, sensual pleasure kneaded up her thigh.

"But… I couldn't expect you to understand." The stranger removed his hand from of the ferrygirl. Part of her was relieved to no longer be subjected to such harassment, but the other part of her… Abruptly, she experienced the puissant force of one of her assailant's hands latch onto the area between her bust as he sprung up onto the table, her body now nestled between his legs. "Someone who has everything handed to her, someone who snatches any _tom, dick, and harry _from the ones who can never get one, someone with a mendacious heart. You think you are pure but you aren't, you're filthy! Imperfect!"

"Gomen, for whatever happened to you, but why do you have to blame it on me!" Botan pleaded, striving from his grasp and the weight plying over her stomach.

"Why? Because you are a woman… Your kind is liars, connivers, and says one thing but mean another. Your kind is fragile, whiners, and only use is to be slaves to our dominant kind and further the species even though it is already overpopulated. You let your emotions run you, which get in the way of some of the greatest joys, causing them to end-intimate confrontation for one. You said before how your _savior _will protect you, aid you... Dattara, I'm touching you…" He squeezed her even more, causing her to wince from the pressure. "... Where's your Enma now? Tell me you don't want my touch! Tell me and mean it!" His left hand traced over the young female's brow.

"Gah! I've done nothing to hurt you! I'm innocent." Botan closed her eyes to try and fight back tears; she did whatever she could to assert her independence.

"It's soon to be over anyway… My seclusion on this mountain will be coming to an end in less than four days from now. All the underworld detectives will pay the price once that delectable boy's blood taints the core of the bridge.Heaven will be darkened by the wicked and the unholy beings I will be able to create from the power it enriches onto me will lash out at the world, destroying every Reikai Tantei. The barriers of the levels of Makai will be abolished so that my brothers and sisters can wreak havoc once again. I will not let my mentor, _Tsuyu_'s, drudgery be a futile effort."

"You're mad, that is insane!" Botan tried to shake him from off of her but the limitations the harnesses created made it a difficult task. Yet, she didn't have to do such a thing…

The deranged youkai lifted himself from off the helpless girl and stood at the side of the table once again. "You've hurt my feelings again…"

"So what! Kill me all you want! And besides you can't anyway, I'm pretty much already _dead_!" Botan screamed, finally standing up for herself. "I'm not afraid of you!"

"You shouldn't be…" She could see his silhouette now bathed in the doorway as the light from the staircase came back on. He snapped his fingers twice and the torches in the torture room flickered on to reveal well over a hundred Uwibami men surrounding the table Botan was on. Those creatures have been there the whole time! "… afraid of me that is, you should fear them. Besides, I don't want to kill you…"

Botan's eyes widened in terror as she finally got a good look of the being behind the destruction soon to come to all worlds.

"… I need you that is, you pitiable onna. As an inducement for that child of a ruler, once someone he cares about is in danger, especially an onna with your pure spirit, what makes you think he won't do anything to get you back… Women make men weak, look at your partner, fighting for a woman… Once Reikai is swarming with youkai and filled with an overpopulation of souls from the dead, he will be ready and willing to give up his position to me. I'll have my fill on the souls at my disposal and grow stronger until I am able to do away with Enma, becoming the new ruler of all worlds!"

"NO! You psychopath, your actions are ludicrous! Kill my spirit now… I beg of you…" Botan cried.

"I find it more pleasurable to see you suffer to the point where you wish your spirit were dead… Enjoy your stay here, it'll be the last place you'll ever see… Oh and my Uwibami… be as rough as you want, break her down to nothing…" He snapped his fingers one last time as the Uwibami men ascended onto the poor girl.

"Iie!" Many of which pinned her shoulders and knees down while she felt numerous hands exploring her flesh. Piece by piece, a part of her attire was ripped away-first a sleeve, part of the bottom fold, part of the upper fold was split in half, and her hair tie was torn out. Tatters and shreds of her kimono laid in the floor as the groping and fondling of the Uwibami men got even more vehement with even more hands!

"Fear me for I am Shazmee, a full bred _Maiya youkai_ once, but that side is dead… This youki alchemist reborn after that _fire_ will have vengeance on Reikai for slaughtering my master… and _daughter_… Torment her for my suffering, Uwibami! This poster-child for Reikai… don't just use your hands, tongues work just as good..." He turned toward the stairs as the Uwibami men did as they were told. The depraved Shazmee looked back at the violated girl one last time and whispered, "Enjoy this pleasure, fore every torture beyond this point will be anything but erotic…"

"Please! YAMETE!" Botan's screams of pain echoed throughout the mountaintop of Kaminari Sama, but fell on deaf ears.

**Case ten--- PENDING CLOSURE**

Japanese / English: Aitsu erasou ni shiyagatte / He's a cocky SOB isn't he, yamete (yamero) / stop, Fuuka Enbujin / Blast Petals Waltz Posture, Kagon Retsuzan Shi / Splendid Slicing Branch, aitso / "that thing over there", becha becha / chatterbox, bozu / kid or "Hey Squirt", (o)jii-san / grandfather, itai / ouch, dattara / "If that is so..."

New name meanings: -Uzume is the Japanese Shinto goddess of joy and happiness. When the sun goddess, Amaterasu, hid away in a cave, Uzume brought her back out by performing her curlew and provoking dances. Such dances are the Kagura, the one to wake the dead, and one symbolizing the planting of seeds. Uzume, in the saga, is of the Seal youkai tribe found in the water city, Aglangis, of Makai's south region. Her grandfather is the Mountain Man.

Shazmee's past can now be unlocked. He was once a Maiya demon but died in a brutal accident that involved him setting fire to a field. His sensei of the _Eden's Time-Shift Ghost Arts Style _was Tsuyu. He has the power of various enchantments he has be-stolen onto Musubi and his brother-he created them from different means of sacred objects. His powers include creating monsters from simple objects and conjuring up a means of energy by using people.His daughter was supposedly killed by a Reikai Tantei but it seems that Musubi knows more than he lets on and is attempting to present her to him so he could probably have authority of ruling over Ningenkai when Shazmee takes over the worlds-too bad Yama won't stop wasting time and do his job. If you haven't guessed by now, Shazmee is rather maniacal, it's mainly because he has a tumor lodged in his brain which somehow is able to influence what he does…

Author's Note: I do not hate Botan! She's one of my favorite female characters in the show even! Yet I put her through so much… uh… harassment…. you always hurt the ones you love! Oh an I also have to warn some of you ppl, the next few chapters are going to get a little "mature", if they haven't already (I mean come on, incest, gropage, and _sexual preferences _in a pg-13!) ! But, unfortunately, I can't show them on anymore, but hey, I have a Mediaminer site and will put up the link to it there… but what some of you have been expecting will happen (Musubi's taking the relationship to an EXTREME level, if you get my drift…) ! W00t w00t! Rape, Sex, and Drunken Love shall live on! MWUHAHA… uh yeh.. I think I'll have toamp up the rating soon on this if I leave a few more "inappropriate" scenes in… heh

**Disclaimers: Nothing new to read about as of yet In no way, like I said before, by far does any characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to me. If you were thinking that I did own Yuusuke, Kuwabaru, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Keiko, Rando, Koenma, Maya, Shiori, The Holy Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Raizen, Mukuro, Yomi, Genkai, or any other character for that matter, you're dead wrong! Of course I would enjoy owning them! The characters that do belong to me are my fictional, yet _origina_l, side characters and main character Kyoumi, and possibly some demons you won't find on the show. Also, the "Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory" was my creation. The characters of Yuu Yuu Hakusho belong to the original creator, Yoshihiro Togashi, and I don't feel my name is listed anywhere near the original creator**


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